Eye of the Beholder
by SkullFox
Summary: When assassins destroy Star Fox the entire Lylat system falls into Ruin. With Star Fox destoryed who will save the people from the new self-appointed emperor of the Lylat system?
1. Chapter 1

**Author Notes:**_ Okay...I'm back again. This time however, with this form of writer's block cure...I had a little help from a friend...**Mykll**. I can promise that it'll be a big pitch from what i normally write but, I came to like it. So I intend to keep it going. However, I will apologize in advance that this fic may not be produced very quickly since I've been spending a lot of my time on my other fics. Once I manage to get Chains of Fate 2 out of the way however, I'll have more time for my more neglected works. I apologize again to anyone that's been waiting for an update on any of my other works. Thank you all for your support and understanding..._

_The Footsteps in the Darkness ~ SkullFox_

and

Mykll

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**-Intro-**

The greatest divide between friend and enemy is that small fraction of indifference between you and those you share an opinion with; however that opinion can be swayed very easily…most everyone has a price, some try to hide it, while others try to deny it, but the idea is the same. There are no exceptions in the game, keep friends close and enemies closer, for you never can fully tell when one will become the other, and when your entire world can crash in around your eyes…

**Chapter 1: Lost…**

Years passed after the Saurian mission, giving the Star Fox team a new member; the light blue furred vixen very quickly caught the eye of both the media and famed hero Fox McCloud. They young leader of the mercenaries found himself unable to pay attention to anything at all when she was nearby, and yet of all things he seemed to fear the idea of telling her that he felt the way he did…it was mainly because he feared the notion that something could end up happening to her the way it did for his mother, who was killed in an attempt to take out James. He sighed a bit in his current position sitting in a reclined chair staring out at wall length window that looked out onto the city; quietly daydreaming about a little house somewhere in the country, where none could bother him or his blue furred lover…where it could only be the two of them no matter what. It was a nice little dream to be forgotten, but, it was only just that, a dream. No matter where he went, or how he got there, it seemed he always had the media riding his ass asking him a thousand and one questions about his possible relationship with Krystal for the sheer fact that she was a female of his own species and a member of his team; were she an Avian, or an Aquian he was certain that this would have fallen on Falco or Slippy, and he would be constantly badgered with thoughts on whether or not it was anything that was going to endanger the team as a whole. He figured that the reasoning behind this was to figure whether or not the next child in the McCloud family would be born anytime soon; Fox never said it out loud but, he was ashamed in the Cornerian military, or Lylat's to begin with. When anyone is in trouble his team was called, and though they were paid, it was hardly enough. The tower they stayed in, The Den, was given to them by the military and the people, but, it was mainly just a place to sleep while the team was on firm ground…there was hardly any sort of monetary cash flow to the place at all. What the team did make from their military incursions was primarily offset by, fuel, repairs, and ammunition costs…not to mention feeding the now five man team; at times it became so frustrating that Fox often thought about taking Krystal to a casino and taking advantage of her ability to read a Blackjack dealer's mind…but, in the end he was certain that his conscience would never allow him to do something that went so far against what his father had believed in…not to mention the fact that he cared about Krystal far too much to take advantage of her in any way. Clasping his paws together, Fox stretched his back causing his head to lean back over the headrest of the chair he sat in…as he did this the electronic door that sat behind him, on the other end of the room slid open with an airy hiss. His eyes instantly locked on the beautiful blue figure of a vixen that walked in; he often found it hard to believe that she could even exist, as far as he saw she was perfect as a female, she carried a slender form that ensnared his senses any time he looked at her; her hair was much longer than when he'd first met her now reaching down a good portion of her back, the young vulpine's mouth hung open a bit when she placed her paws on the back of her neck stretching them out and back, which caused her gorgeous hair to flair out, and caused her chest to stick out quite a bit from the extra large night shirt she often wore in the early mornings, she clearly hadn't noticed him sitting there, because as she stretched her back further clearly trying to relieve a stress on her back, the night shirt came showing the rather flimsy panties she wore…

"AHEM!!" Fox coughed into his fist.

The vixen jumped and after settling herself held a paw over her heart, "Fox…you scared the life out of me!" She chuckled.

Fox chuckled a bit as he looked away from her, "Um……" He stammered for a moment, "Sorry…" He couldn't bring himself to tell her what he'd seen, it would have embarrassed him to death, "…just thought I'd get you attention."

Krystal chuckled again before walking to another seat to too far away from his spot, "Just a 'good morning' would have sufficed love." She said leaning back in her seat, "I take it the General has no work for us today then?"

Fox sighed with a bored huff, "I guess you don't need telepathy to see that." He said looking out over the Corneria city horizon, "It's been pretty damn slow…not that I'm complaining. No work means no wars..."

"Hmm..." The vixen smiled, "At least you can look positively at this. It is good that there is no more killing at the time." She sighed, "So...where are Falco and the others?"

Fox sighed, "I don't know..." He replied sitting up, "I guess you heard all of that last night huh? Sorry..."

Krystal looked a bit guilty, "Do they really feel that way about having me around?"

Fox stood up and walked to the window, looking out over the city, "No……Falco's just an insecure prick." Fox replied, "He thinks having you around I'm going to tun into some sort of love sick moron and start swooning over you all day everyday…start ignoring the team."

Krystal was a bit happy that Fox wasn't looking at her now at the moment as she was turning a deep shade of purple with embarrassment. She'd thought about in that way…though it made her feel a bit horrible about it now, since her presence alone was threatening to turn Fox's team inside out…

"Fox would it be better if I just left?" She asked.

The young vulpine quickly turned around, "Don't let Falco's bullshit get to you Krystal. It's just who he is." He said, "He's always gotta blame something on someone or he isn't having a happy day. He'll come around."

Krystal stood up joining Fox at the window, "I don't know…I've been with the team for over three years now and he still acts like I'm here to suck the life out of you or something. Why does he only seem to think I'm here to break up his family?"

Fox rubbed her head with a smile before turning toward the door, "He just isn't comfortable with change…" He said, "Don't pay any mind to it and eventually he'll see you in the same light that I do." He added heading toward the door, "Now if you're hungry let's got get something to eat…the others won't be back for a while now."

**********

Krystal liked the fact that Fox was always so kind to her, even though she knew there was no real cause for it. She could have read his mind at any point, but, she had already developed a level of respect for him as her friend…she could never invade his mind the way she would some criminal that she needed information from. Though she didn't like to show it, it made her smile when Fox was happy with her, then again she'd never seen a time when he wasn't happy with her; even she noticed the way he looked at her, not that her fondness for Katt's way of life was making this any easier on him. She admitted to herself that she did care about him, she simply wasn't so sure that admitting that out in the open at this present time was not the best of ideas; Falco already seemed to have his complaints. She wondered why it was the avian was so afraid of Fox finding a female that he could possibly have a relationship with…maybe he was simply afraid of Fox forgetting about him. She'd been inside his head; hell she'd been inside of the minds of everyone on the team at some point when they had first met, it wasn't that she didn't trust them even at first, it was simply a way of knowing them better, a Cerinian thing that most Lylatians would not fully understand. Fox had known somehow right away that she was probing his thoughts they day she first came aboard the Great Fox, and he was fast to let her know that, not only was it disrespectful, that if she ever wanted to know anything she only had to ask. However, when she was inside Falco's mind she realized right away that it was a fractured mind, scared and torn by constant heartache and broken promises…despite his constant façade of the tough, hardened, mercenary…was the injured mind and heart of a small child who's entire life had done little less that drive him mad. She did not wonder why he had gone on for hours the night after he'd seen the two together at a diner; even though there was nothing between herself and Fox, Falco was petrified of the very thought……not of Fox being happy, but, of him being left alone without the only family he knew, the team. It was as she and Fox sat down to a small breakfast that she realized why it was Fox would think the way he did about Falco, though it was simply a façade it was not by any means a small one; he played the part quite well, even enough to nearly fool a telepath…but, Krystal was experienced in these matters, her powers stretched a bit further than simple telepathy. A moderate portion of her psionic abilities were based around Empathy, or an ability to feel and sense people's emotions, an ability she wasn't always happy to have. Krystal wanted to say something to him, she could tell that he was depressed; Fox had shouted some things at Falco the other night she was certain he wished he hadn't…but, it was already said…

"I…I think you and Falco really care about each other…" She suddenly said.

Fox suddenly lurched his head forward patting his fist against his chest before finally looking to her, "Where the hell did that come from?"

"Just pointing out the obvious, love." The blue furred vixen chuckled, "I've been with this team for a time now, it really isn't that hard to see that you are beating yourself up over what you said last night."

Fox stood up with a sigh as he took his fresh cup of coffee with him over to a window that overlooked the lake around the small island the tower rested on. He sighed again before looking back to her, "He and Slip were there when my mom died." Fox said, "Literally……we were so close when dad's car exploded…that Falco lost a few tail feathers." He said looking back out the window, "We found this island back when we were still kids; man you should see Slip swim, makes the rest of us look like rocks in the water. He swam out here. It was like out little spot; we used to race across the lake to get here…dad always laughed about it, telling me that I was training myself for a military career without even knowing it. I guess I didn't know what he meant back then. Anyhow, we swore when dad died…that we'd put a base here, take up the name Star Fox in his honor…we've been together for a long time, I guess in some way those two are the brothers I never had." He said, "Never got a chance to meet my real brother…"

"You…had a brother?" Krystal asked tilting her head.

Fox sighed, "When the guys at the morgue gave mom her autopsy, they found out she was about a month or so pregnant. I guess she was waiting to tell dad or something. I don't know…would've been nice though…"

"Do you ever talk to them?" The vixen asked, "Your family that is?"

Fox scoffed, "Not that it dose any good."

Krystal sighed, "On Cerinia we had a saying; _The departed are never truly dead, not until the living forget them completely_. I believe that the ones we love are always listening, especially when you feel you need them to hear you most."

Fox chuckled, "I like that…" He said looking out at Sol raising over the mountains on the horizon, "…your thoughts about death are a lot better than most other peoples'." He sighed as his eyes caught a small vehicle pulling up to the small tower, "Well there they are…lets go help 'em. Can't leave Falco to carry all that ammo by himself can we?"

Krystal sighed, "I guess not." She said, "Let me go put something decent on."

**********

Falco, Slippy, and Peppy were all found at the front of the place; unloading several small metal containers that were most often used to carry ammunition for the more archaic weapons used by the team. Fox and Falco didn't say a word to one another…the bird simply passed two of the cases to Fox, who silently hauled them into the base. Krystal wasn't far behind, suddenly hurrying out of the tower, greeting Peppy and patting Slippy on the head before picking up two of the metal cases herself and heading back into the building. She wanted to talk with Falco, but, she felt he wouldn't listen to her even if she did; she could feel that he was still angry with her and Fox, in fact she could almost feel his eyes staring a hole in her back as she walked into the tower. Peppy sighed as he noticed the falcon's childish behavior, and looked to the six story tower of silver and blue. It was a pretty little island, not very massive at all just enough room for the tower, and some extra running room for the group when they decided it was nice enough outside to actually spend the day out…

"You know boy?" The old gray furred hare said stepping around the vehicle, "Just because you chose to live your life as a recluse, don't mean Fox has to go through his life the same way. If you'd get your head outta your ass for five seconds maybe you'd see the fact that he's actually happy for once."

Falco huffed slamming the trunk of the vehicle shut, "I guess we just weren't enough for him then." He snapped stomping his way into the tower.

Peppy looked to Slippy, who carried two of the crates to himself, their size in comparison to the little toad making it seem impossible to do without him falling over, "You need some help there Slip?" The old man asked.

Slippy chuckled setting one down to readjust his cap before picking it back up, "Peppy…you know I'm a lot stronger than I look, I can handle a few ammo crates."

Peppy chuckled to himself, "Yeah…I keep forgetting…probably ma old age catch'n up with me huh?" He said, "Lucy keeps telling me to retire. Maybe she's right."

Slippy sighed looking to the tower, "Peppy…why is Falco being such a dick to Krystal all of a sudden?" He asked, "He didn't have any kind of complaints when she first joined the team."

"It's complicated Slippy…" Peppy replied, "I think at first Falco thought she was just gonna be a member of the team. I don't think he was counting on Fox falling for her. Problem is he did a long time ago."

"Whadda you mean?" Slippy asked innocently.

Peppy laughed out loud, "Forget it kid. For someone that has a masters in quantum mechanics you sure as hell ain't too bright Slippy." Slippy looked up at the hare with a hurt look, "Just a figure of speech Slip…don't take it literally. You'll understand what I'm talking about at some point in your life Slip."

Slippy chuckled as he walked toward the tower, "That's alright Peppy…I like the fact that Fox and Krystal like each other…I just wish they'd do something about it and stop lying to themselves."

As the toad walked into the tower, Peppy stood by; he was a bit stunned, if Fox and Krystal's feelings were so open that Slippy could see it, it really was obvious. The old hare simply stood there; he was certain that at some point Falco would come around, he was thick headed, and a bit dense when it came to the feelings and needs of others but, on some level he wanted Fox to be happy. The senior member of the team looked around, making certain that the vehicle was properly locked down; though it was rare, the occasional vehicle theft wasn't unheard of in the city, though he doubted anyone would steal a car of any kind from the Star Fox team. It was however as he approached the small tower that something hit his vision; out of the corner of his old eye, Peppy noticed a small spot crawl along the side of his face, lowering down to his chest. Though his expression didn't chance when he saw the small red spot lingering over his heart, he simply sighed and closed his eyes…

**********

Mere seconds later a loud shot tore through the entire tower; this brought Fox rushing to the door only to cause him to shoot from the door to the gray furred Lapin that lay fade down in the grass near the car. His thoughts and words were all choked, he couldn't say a word, he could only wipe the tears from his eyes as he rolled the old hare over onto his back. The blood was everywhere, the fact that the old man was still breathing slightly was unbelievable, until Fox noticed the wound on the animal's left side; he'd been lung shot, most likely on purpose just so that the animal couldn't call for help as he lay there bleeding to death. The hare's paw shook violently as he reached for Fox, slowly grasping at the blaster the vulpine always had on hand. Fox quickly pulled it out of curiosity, only to have the hare tug the fox's arm toward his head. He was begging for death, there was no way of curing his condition, Fox could either end his suffering or simply let the old man wallow in agony until he finally suffocated on his own blood. As Fox came to his decision placing the barrel of the weapon on the dying animals forehead the old man grunted, forcing a pride filled smile onto his face. Fox couldn't look away, despite how much he wanted to; what needed to be done was clear, as he pressed a small switch activating the weapon with a stream of tears in his eyes…

"I'm so sorry Peppy." He half whispered.

The old man seemed to force it up alone with a mass of blood, but, his words were clear, "Not……your……fault."

Fox slowly closed his eyes, "I love you Peppy." He said, "Say hi to dad for me."

The shot was painless, and to Fox the loudest thing he'd ever heard; the low, dull whirring sound of the weapon's internal plasma coil cooling down from the shot, was like the grinding of Death's bones reaching out for the old man. When he opened his eyes Fox found himself hyperventilating, his entire body trembled, and his blaster suddenly rattled to the grass. He could feel a deathly chill run down his spine, the animal was in his sights, fully healthy just a moment ago. Though there were tears streaming down his face, he wasn't crying, even though he wanted to more than anything in his life. He used the back of his arm to wipe his eyes, eliminating the blur from his vision as the fur soaked up his tears. Suddenly something became apparent at he looked at the scene. Peppy had been walking toward the tower, and yet the aftermath of the round that had hit him was spattered across the grill of the vehicle behind him. A sudden realization struck the vulpine causing his eyes to go wide; as if the next round was already speeding for his head…

"The tower…" He said feeling his trembling suddenly cease, "…it came from the tower. Falco, Slippy, KRYSTAL!!"

The vulpine leaped to attention, rushing toward the tower only to hear a scream; and several gunshots that caused him to freeze in step. The scream, was Krystal, and was silenced. His heart instantly sank…there were three shots. He instantly fell to his knees as the weight of a hopeless situation washed over him. Once again he'd lost a family. A bitter feeling washed over his heart, his expressions went blank, as if emotions simply faded from his all at once. No tears fell, he simply couldn't believe what was happening. A heavy sounding footstep behind him caused the vulpine's ear to twitch, and his paw slowly found it's way to the handle of a large black knife held at his back…

"Not the best idea at the moment." A low toned voice said.

Fox slowly stood up, "You think I care what happens to me now?" He asked in a flat tone, "Your concern should be how long you've got left to live."

"You may actually live to regret attacking us Mister McCloud."

Fox turned to face them, only to see two figures dressed in white outfits; one roughly his size, while the other was massive, taller than Falco and wider than two of Fox. Their faces were covered by a white hood, their gear white, held in place by leather belts that crossed their waist, and chest holding the white tunic like top close to their bodies, leather gloves scaled a short way up their arms. A small flap of the white cloth of the tunic ran under their belts hanging down to their knees, thick leather shin high boots covered their feet. Despite the fact that the shorter of the two held a pistol and had it precisely aimed at Fox's face, the vulpine gritted his teeth, he felt the wet rush of blood run between his knuckles as his grip on his knife tightened until it was beginning to tear at the flesh of his palm. Suddenly in a rush of partial insanity, and desperation to avenge his dead friends; Fox shot out toward the two in a blinding speed. The one holding the pistol fired, causing a small object to lodge itself into the vulpine's shoulder, however the rushing animal slammed into the larger of the two driving the massive animal up off his feet and onto the hood of the vehicle behind him, shattering the glass of the windshield as Fox came down on top of the animal's chest driving his knife down at the large creature's face with both paws. The animal however swiped his head to one side causing the knife to plow into the metal hood of the vehicle. The large assassin reached out taking Fox by the paws and quickly whipped around switching their positions, and reared back a massive fist. However, with a scream of pure rage, Fox shot upright driving his forehead into his attacker's face causing a small eruption of blood to shower his face. The large animal staggered back off the vehicle and onto his feet holding his still hidden face and possibly a broken nose. A very sudden chill crawled down Fox's spine, there was no way he could win this fight, no matter how angry he was, or how bloodthirsty, something about the small dart he quickly tore from his shoulder was making him feel weak. A very mortal realization rushed through his mind all at once and before the two in white could respond, they found themselves in a foot race after the young vulpine. The larger of the two quickly fell behind, but, the other kept up quite well. Fox quickly rushed toward the larger parts of the city, but, something struck a nearby trash can. Suddenly two more of the small darts struck him in the back causing him to stumble into a nearby alleyway. His footing felt strange as he tripped falling into a puddle of disgusting smelling water. He slowly began to crawl as he found that he could no longer get back to his feet. As the shorter assassin stepped near him, Fox could hear the animal huffing and wheezing before a foot forced him over onto his back…

"You're not an easy man to take in alive…" The animal said, "It takes a lot of adrenalin to fight off that much tranquilizer. Too bad for you…it'd be best for you if you just stayed asleep."

Fox could do nothing but lay there as his vision faded, his last thoughts of what had happened today, in a matter of moments his entire world was completely ruined. As he sat by, he slowly hoped he'd never wake up…

**********

In a far off place where the darkness gathers, several animals stand in a dark room…

"I told you that we'd get this done didn't I?" One said.

"Yes you did." Another said, "And I digress that I underestimated the notion…but, you also did not finish the job. The female was never found was she?"

The first voice sighed angrily, "It is not our fault that your fall through man couldn't handle a simple female."

"Hey! Back the fuck off Furball!" A third voice shouted, "You know as well as I do that she's no ordinary female. She ran, took a docked Arwing."

"Why?"

The third voice scoffed, "Think about it. She's got nowhere to go…and she's new to the Star Fox team. They'd be quicker to blame this all on her than anyone else, the media is already keeping an eye on her."

"Hmm…That's true."

"And even so…who cares?" The third voice said, "We've got McCloud now…he's on his way here."

The second animal sighed in thought, "Speaking of which…what do we do with the scapegoats now that they're pretty much useless?"

"Get rid of them…as soon as they hand over McCloud."


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2:**_ Kursed……_

The young vixen clutched her heart; her lungs burned and she was bleeding terribly from a wound in her shoulder. She quickly flattened her back against a wall. Where she stopped to catch her breath, she was breathing heavily, there was no telling how long she'd been running, by now she must have run all over the city. She hadn't bothered to stop to check to see if the one's in white were still chasing her, before rushing off yet again. There was no chance she could have gone back. She saw them dragging Fox's body away from the tower; she finally stopped when she found herself far from the tower. Fox had always told her that if something should ever happen to him, she was to run to the star port and go to Sauria, apparently where she'd be safe. Nobody went to Sauria and it would give her time to sort things out. It was as she finally leaned against her personal Arwing that she sniffled wiping a mess of tears away from her face…

Her mind instantly went back to what had happened; Slippy was with her when they'd heard the first gunshot, however as they ran to meet Fox something hit her…a bullet that was possibly still in her shoulder. She tried to see who it was that was shooting at her but, before she could realize anything, Slippy had taken her paw and was quickly leading her through the tower. They stopped for a moment, before a dark figure appeared behind them. It all happened so fast that she didn't even have time to read anyone's minds in the room. The figure shot at her, but, Slippy knocked her through the window of the tower…the last thing she remembered hearing was the water when she hit. She had no idea what was going on, just that someone had come and was waiting in the tower for the entire team to be together before they struck…she was certain that it was some kind of hitman, hired by one of the many enemies that Star Fox had that Fox had been forever informing her about. She didn't want to do it but, there had to be a reason why it was Fox had told her to go to Sauria if something were to happen to the team, and so the lonely vixen climbed into her Arwing and did as Fox had told her so often. She felt as though she'd never stop crying; Fox, Peppy, and Falco were gone…and Slippy had given his life to save the young vixen. Her overwhelming feelings of sorrow, and desperation slowly melded together as the ship broke into the small planet's atmosphere, molding a burning feeling she'd never known before. It burned deep within the recesses of her soul, in places she'd never really know before; a rage and anger that forced her teeth to clench tightly, actually hurting her jaw. Though her tears still made her vision blur…however, her mind seemed to shift, though she still cried for her friends, and her loss the majority of her mind went red. She wanted blood, for the people that had done this to pay, and would get it at any cost…

**********

**Three years later……**

**Planet Katina, Varner City**

**A small tavern in a run down neighborhood…**

**********

The city had fallen, without the aid of the Star Fox team the military didn't stand a chance against the remaining Venomian forces that invaded the Lylat system; they came in droves, and in the end the general was given no alternative option but, to surrender for the good of all the innocent lives that would be lost were he to resist. General Pepper's execution was made public to dampen the hopes of any that thought to stand against Andrew's new gained authority…the Trinity Accord ceased to be, ties were broken between Lylat and it's sister star systems. The cities were to pay a steep price…most of Katina was leveled, cities were set to burn, when Andrew caught wind of the Katinans' plans to fight back…his retribution was swift. Nobody in Katina City was spared, men, women, children……there was no quarter given, the city would be made a prime example of. It had been such a short time since she'd last been here, the owner of the bar was a nice fellow named Zig; he was an interesting person, managing to believe that one day Star Fox would come to their rescue. The bar always seemed to smell horrible, a rancid mixture of urine, vomit, and the putrid stench of the cowardice radiating from the militiamen that sat in the bar drowning their fears and sorrows. She stopped at the message board next to the door; this was a place where any odd jobs would be posted, any call for a bounty hunter would be posted here. It was as she ran a claw over the lines of a job that looked promising that she however noticed a small wanted poster and quickly pulled it from the board. It was a photo of a young vixen with pale white fur; in the image she wore her hair back in a long ponytail, and wore something like a tank top, that stopped just shy of her left breasted before cutting diagonally across her abdomen where it joined with her beltline; a long cloth hung from her black belt, which covered her entire left leg down to the knee, while the other leg was only covered by a pant leg that led half way down her thigh, she wore heavy shin high boots and thick fingerless gloves, and propped against her shoulder was a unique weapon that most people in Lylat were not used to seeing at all…a long golden shaft, roughly five feet long, with a long curved blade sprouting from one end…nobody knew why she carried a Scythe of all things but, the one looking at the poster understood perfectly well as her light blue eyes developed a glint of success…

"They try too hard." She said to herself.

A bit flattered that they were still looking for the so called "Angel of Death" the vixen had made herself out to be. The vixen made a mental note of the sum on the face of the poster. Two hundred fifty thousand credits…more than enough money to make an entire family very happy for a very long time. With a light sigh, she entered the bar; there were only four animals inside besides the old lizard behind the bar; one red furred vixen serving drinks, a raccoon sitting at a solo table, and a black feathered avian in the back of the area talking with a strange animal that hid his face behind a black, wide brimmed hat. The white vixen approached the bar and placed her wanted poster on the counter. The iguana rubbed his scaly green mitts together in a dry towel…

"I know what you're gonna say Kursed…" He said, "There was nothing I could do they were threatening to shut my bar down. This place is my home too you know?"

Kursed sighed, "Yeah, Zig. Just keep this short and sweet I think I have someone tailing me." She said turning her eyes alone toward the door.

Zig produced a small brown folder, "It's not much but, I figured you could use the cash."

Kursed sifted through the files one by one, and sighed as she held one of the pages, "Bodyguard? I hate these jobs."

"Well you've made one hell of a name for yourself." The reptile replied, "People all around the Lylat system, either want you to work for them or wanna kill you."

The white furred vixen chuckled, "I think I prefer it when they wanna kill me." She said, "Gimme my usual before I go." She said sitting there for a moment staring at her wanted poster before the iguana behind the bar sat a small glass of clear liquid in front of her.

"It's a good picture this time at least." He chuckled.

The vixen downed the drink and lay the glass on the table, "Yeah…last one didn't even look like me." The vixen lay a small bit of money on the counter which the barkeep kindly rejected.

"You think I can start forcing people to pay me for water?" He asked.

The lovely creature stood up stretching her back, "With the way things look, you may have to pretty soon." She said, "You hear about that last senator they caught?"

The reptile simply shook his head, "Yeah. Him, his wife, two daughters, and his son…found he was a member of the resistance, wiped his whole existence off the map."

"Any luck with that information I asked you for?" She suddenly changed the subject.

Zig sighed leaning in close to her, "Listen…" He whispered, "I did a lot of digging on that. Apparently the McCloud job was hit off by some real pros." He said sliding a small folder to her, "They call themselves "The Wraiths"…some old terminology, kind of ghost or something. Now these guys are good……beyond good, in fact according to historical records they don't even exist."

Kursed slid a small photo from within the small portfolio; it was of an animal who's muzzle was all that could be seen from beneath a light gray hood, which matched the uniform he wore. It was tight, and was held tight by a thick leather belt across his abdomen; it's coat hung down past the animal's knees, small cut outs in the cloth made for easier running and gave it several tails of cloth that hung down around his legs. He wore slightly baggy pants that matched, and wore thick leather boots…

"Unfortunately there's no way of telling where they are or how to find them."

The reptile was certain that the vixen was on the verge of staring a hole in the photo that rested in her paw, "This is them." She half whispered, "I know it is. I've seen one of them before."

**********

**Three years ago……**

**********

_ The gunshot that rose across the Den was enough to cause Krystal's fur to stand on end; it had come from in front of the tower, where she recalled them leaving Fox. The vixen quickly rushed through the halls picking up Slippy along the way. However, as the two headed toward the elevators a strange figure seemed to appear from the shadows; dressed in a white, hooded uniform. She was both surprised and shocked as her arm was jerked nearly dragging her off her feet as Slippy quickly took her paw and rushed off into a sealed off room. The vixen couldn't really believe what was going on as she felt her heart pounding out of her chest, which matched in tune with the throbbing in her shoulder from the unusually bulky little reptile's death hold on her. She'd always thought the little mechanic was just portly for his size, her mind was instantly changed. It was as they entered another room that the vixen instantly froze; the stranger was already there aiming an archaic pistol at her. She could already feel the burning in her chest from the bullet, she knew it was coming. A million different things rushed through her mind all at once; why this was happening, all the things that she was yet to do in her life, as well as all the things that remained unsaid…_

_ The shot sounded like thunder, but, surprisingly enough there was no pain. She instantly thought she'd stumbled only to find a bleeding Slippy trying his hardest to fight back to his feet; his little hand covering a small wound that seeped blood from his chest. The vixen instantly covered her mouth; Slippy had seemed like the last person to take a bullet for anyone…_

"_Slippy…" She whispered with tears in her eyes._

_ Suddenly the assassin drew his aim back to the vixen; this time however instead of gunfire the only sound she heard was that of a screaming toad, and shattering glass. The team's mechanic had lunged at her again, this time heaving the young vixen through the window that lay only a foot or so to her right sending her careening off into the lake water's below. It felt like forever before the vixen rolled onto her back coughing up mess of water before rolling onto her paws and knees, heaving and gagging as her body desperately expelled the water that she'd nearly drown on. With tears in her eyes the vixen looked back across the lake where the tower looked much smaller, and reached out with her mind desperately grasping out in a hopeful attempt to latch onto the minds and thoughts of one of her friends. However, the only thing she received, was the frightening silence of her own mind, and the sight of her new home engulfed in flames. She screamed out loud for her friends but, in the end nothing could be done…_

**********

**Present day……**

**********

Kursed quickly sat up from her dead sleep, before recoiling at the feeling of her head colliding with the overhead panels of her small ship. She was breathing heavily, and was drenched in sweat. Not one day had gone by since it had happened that the nightmares didn't haunt her sleep. She slowly lay back in her seat; and drew her eyes shut, cursing herself for not being able to stop what had happened, for being weak. Opening her eyes, she knew better than to expect to see the stars and blackness of space, she had no idea why she'd fallen asleep in her Arwing while it was docked in her small transport's docking bay. With the powerful sent of sweat that filled the cockpit of her Arwing, it took the vixen only moments to make her way off to her small bathroom to wash the smell out of her fur…

The hot water that ran over her body gave her no comfort, as she remembered that it used to when she still has something worth feeling happy about. She didn't stand, instead the vixen simply sat leaning against the far wall of her shower with her head resting on her knees. Not a day went by since the attack three years ago that she didn't cry, crying seemed like all she could do for her friends anymore. She tried her hardest to be the stone cold bounty hunter she'd made herself out to be, but, when she was alone, there was nobody for her to waste her reputation on…just herself, and a handful of memories and broken dreams. She wasn't certain how long she'd been sitting there before the water went from hot, to warm, to freezing. She stepped out of the shower wrapping herself in a long towel…

"ROB!" She called, "Where are we?"

Suddenly a familiar voice echoed into the room from the PA system, "Prantella outer aerospace. Geosynchonized orbit obtained at 2100 hours GST."

"How long have I been in here?" She asked herself.

"Captain's shower unit has been active approximately 2 hours 15 minutes 44 seconds."

The vixen wiped her eyes, she still felt as if she could feel the tears running down her face, despite the fact that there was too much water from her shower to tell. She sniffled a bit before walking out into her room; just as blank and devoid as she had left it. She didn't want any mementos of the old team , her telepathic mind was a unique tool in most cases; however, it was through this that she gained a sort of photographic memory of things, and it was her memories of the team that truly pushed her toward the breaking point. The worst thought however, was that she had been given every opportunity to tell Fox about the blossoming feelings that she'd began to feel toward him, and now……she would never have the chance to do so. It was this thought above all others that drove her man, so many "what if" scenarios played out in her mind that it often made her want to get drunk just to wash the thoughts away…only to recall that she had literally no tolerance for alcohol. She kept herself busy with constant jobs as a bounty hunter to stave off the constant barrage of thoughts and memories, while at the same time hoping that one day, one of jobs would bring her across the people that had ruined her life again. She couldn't even remember how long ago it'd been since she'd dyed her fur white to mix in with the patterns on her arms and legs…a blue vixen was unheard of in Lylat, however, a white one was rare, but relatively overlooked. She slowly made her way down the gloomy halls of her small ship, stopping at a moderately small kitchen area before leaving it with a small mug of coffee. It was shortly after she had joined the Star Fox team that she'd become slightly dependant of the caffeine rich drink to wake up; then again Slippy was the only person she never really saw drink any in the mornings. The vixen sighed as she walked through the halls, stopping to look through a small port window; it seemed that no matter what she did throughout her day, she was constantly reminded of Fox more than anything else, even the dim green glow of the small moon that her ship orbited reminded her of his eyes…

"ROB…" She called, "Start decent……activate the hack protocol for docking."

"Affirmative…" ROB's monotone voice replied over the PA system.

The ship shook a bit, causing a small wave to surge through her mug of coffee, sending a small bit of it cascading over the edge, as the small ship broke synchronized orbit with the planet. The vixen quickly lurched her mug around ahead of the liquid that had spilled over allowing it to fall perfectly back into her mug. She looked at her reflection in the surface of the liquid with a smug grin; she knew Fox would have been impressed with how far her abilities had matured in a span of three simple years, but, it was in those three years that she'd been forced to hone them to a razor's edge. She sighed shaking her head…

"I've got to get that left port stabilizer fixed." She said to herself.

The vixen wondered as she sat there, how long would she have to keep searching, before finding the animals that had ruined what could have been a start for a complete and happy new life for her? She'd often thought of going back to Sauria where she'd spent a good portion of those three long years alone…she often wondered what Katt was doing at the moment…she'd really enjoyed being around the feline after meeting her, after Fox had introduced the two they became very close friends. However, as many times as Krystal attempted to contact her…she could never reach the pink feline. It was hard at times for her to imagine Katt still living out there…with all her friends gone, the feline was the type to seek revenge, even at the cost of her own life. The vixen managed to shake off her heart's impulse to cry at the constant memories that the thoughts caused to rush through her head and slowly turn her attention to the small planet as her ship broke atmosphere. She could scarcely see the tiny town she was to land in; however, she'd been here before. The small 'dust town' was called Hope of all names. Hope……she nearly laughed at the word in general, why someone would name a town after something that didn't even exist…it was ridiculous. Soon, however she set down near the end of the tiny town; despite the planet's green appearance, the place she landed was a small wasteland, not quite desert but, still lacking in general life. The only real means of life found were a well that drew water from a small underground spring in the area, and a garden tended by the townspeople some local wildlife that the residences had clearly discovered were edible were kept in small stables near several small wooden dwellings, apparently they weren't very harmful. The town consisted of a single street, roughly a mile or so long, with small structures on one side of the other; some of the homes were quite well built, small wooden homes constructed by people that most likely had a past as a carpenter of some kind in the past. While other small homes were, nothing but the ships people came here in. The massive road that she now stood in was carved into the dry, arid soil by a crashed mass transport ship that had ran from one of Andrew's attack ships at the beginning of his attacks, even some of the remains of the massive transport were used in some roughly constructed dwellings. As the white furred vixen walked along the lonesome street she noticed a pair of young wolf cubs playing with a ball that was composed of stitched up patches of leather…she slowly approached the two only to have them recoil…

"You two know where I could find Doctor Zang?" She asked managing the first actual smile she'd worn in a long time.

The young female of the two took a step toward the half bent over vixen, "You-you're Kursed." She pointed, "Mama talks about you all the time. Are you really gonna stop the bad people so we can go home?"

Kursed sighed, "I'm trying…" She said half heartedly, "Right now I need to talk to the doctor. Have you seen him recently…he's kinda short; a panda if my sources are right."

The young male of the two approached laying his arm over the little girl's shoulders, "He lives just past the hall Papa's helping build at the end of the town." He said pointing down the street, "He's really weird and just about half blind…but, he's smart. He built the machine that pulls water out of the ground out of the spare parts from the crash."

The young male was clearly the elder of the two, "Thank you." Kursed smiled handing out a small bit of money.

The little she wolf took a small metal coin, "What's this for?"

"We don't use money here." The little once that was clearly her older brother said.

The vixen smiled, "How about these then?" She chuckled pulling a pair or her favorite snacks from her back pocket, she knew how rare chocolate was here, "Just be thankful…they're my last two."

The two very happily took her new payment for the information and ran off back to their game. Kursed sighed as she watched the two play around kicking their ball around while eating their small reward; it was so easy to please a child. Her maternal instincts painfully reminded her of a small dream she often had of having several of her own. Often picturing her life were this all to have never happened. She smiled at the two, they were incredibly cute and innocent, it was hard to believe that she could find children this carefree amongst all this tyranny. The young male smiled and waved to her which she kindly responded to before placing her paws in her pockets and heading off down the long street. If there was anything that could brighten her rather grim outlook on life, it had to be children. She lost sight of the two shortly after walking a distance into the small town; she could almost feel the eyes of the townspeople roaming about her, sizing her up and trying desperately to make heads or tails of her as she slowly made her way down the roads. Kursed only imagined what it was she must have looked like, a white furred vixen, dressed in all white, carrying a scythe of all things on her back. She chuckled inwardly at herself for actually stopping to acknowledge what others might actually think about the way she looked, when she stopped caring so long ago. Her path down the street was a shorter one than she'd at first thought; before she reached a large wooden structure, clearly the building that the young wolf cub had told her about, a number of animals moved about working on the large building. There was no doubt that the building just a short ways down the street further must have been the doctor's place, as it had a sign reminiscent of a pharmaceutical store; a capitol R, with an x across it's elongated leg. She stopped before the entrance and rose her fist…

"No need to knock miss…" A voice quickly called, "Please come in."

Looking about for a moment, in the case that someone was watching, she entered the place. The strong smell of herbs and other random medical items and chemicals made her eyes water a bit; she quickly closed the door behind her…

"How did you……."

"Know it was you Miss?" The voice asked, "I may be a bit more than half blind, but, my other senses are far from average. Please come into the back."

Kursed slowly stepped through the place, her mind on end keeping her telepathy constantly scanning her surroundings, however the animal inside was clearly blocking her mind somehow. The place was simple enough; there were several small shelves of medical salves and such, while there was no counter but, instead a small round table of wood, where behind there was a doorway covered by a light red cloth…

"Please sit down Kursed." The animal called from the back room, "I will be with you shortly…I am afraid I must get my effects in order." He said allowing her to sit where she noticed a small teapot and matching ceramic cups.

She sniffed the contents of the pot, it was not an unpleasant smell…

"I tried my hardest to grow my own tea leaves…" The animal in the back said, "However, my results have been……unsatisfactory."

Kursed sighed as she lay back in her seat, "Thank you…" She replied, "I'll pass."

"You are uncertain how to react to one you cannot instantly read…" The doctor said, causing the vixen to pause, "I cannot say that I blame you. I too was that way once…" As he said this a slightly short panda stepped out from beyond the curtain, "…but, once you learn to read beyond the mind you can see things about others that even they themselves may not see clearly."

The animal carried a small box with him and sat across from the vixen; he wore a strange garb, a long elegantly crafted robe embroidered with golden sections that resembled bamboo birds. He was much thinner than the panda's she'd met before, thought she'd met very few, and had a funny sort of mustache, which was very long and thing hanging down the sides of his muzzle; he wore a very small pair of round glasses…

"I can see why it is you need a guard." She said lightly as he grunted sitting across from her.

The old panda laughed, "I will admit that I am far more on in years than I would like to admit." He said, "I am happy to see that you are so very prompt."

Kursed sighed, "If my clients aren't happy I don't get paid."

"Hmm…" The old panda hummed, "Is that truly why you accept such strange jobs for a known bounty hunter? Or is it because you are looking for something yourself?"

Kursed simply gave the old man a very strong glare…

"I meant nothing by it Miss." He explained, "Simply making observations…I sometimes do that."

Kursed sighed, "This isn't a social call Mister Zang."

"Indeed it is not…" He replied, "I wish you to escort me somewhere." He said tapping the wooden box in front of him, "I am to deliver the contents of this box to a client of mine…you see I deal in illegal surgical advancements for the physically challenged."

Kursed scoffed, "You mean you deal in Neural Links." She pointed out, "I'm far from stupid Mister Zang."

"This animal that I am to deliver this piece to…" He said, "I will admit is an important person. Due, however, to this animal's importance…and infamous nature. I cannot release to you his name or nature."

Kursed sighed, "Where are we taking it?" She asked.

The panda sighed, "We will take your ship." She sighed, "A small planet inside the Stygian System. It is a very rural place, where very few animals actually live, this makes it a grand location for the many customers that I have that wish to have Link enhancements installed."

"Why do you need my protection then?" The vixen asked.

Zang sighed, "Unfortunately, like here…on this planet. There are people on this planet in Stygian that would rob me of this Link for sell on the black market. I would tell you who my customer is, but, you are typically a mercenary, and there is no telling for whom you may work next." He said, "So you will escort me to my lab there on Virranas. There you will be paid and your services will no longer be required."

The vixen thought for a moment as she sat there, "How much?"

"Six hundred thousand." He said, "And if there is anything else that I can help you with…I will."

Kursed thought for a moment, "Hmmm…sounds good enough. At least the money will pay for a new stabilizer for my ship."

"Well then…" Zang replied, "I suppose we've reached an understanding?" He asked extending his paw in friendship.

The vixen sighed, "I suppose we do." She replied shaking his paw, "Should we leave right away, or do you need more time?"

"I have everything I need…" The doctor replied, "You can lead the way to your ship at any time."

**********

Kursed was happy to, once again, be aboard her ship…it was the one place where she felt she belonged anymore. Her ship only had one spare room, the others were used as a training room, since the small transport didn't have it's own, and a storage facility for her weapons and other assorted gear. The vixen however was slightly annoyed, as she knew her trip to Stygian would take some time, and with an unfamiliar animal aboard her ship. She was certain he was no particular harm in any way, she simply did not like the idea of him invading her only means of sanctuary. The hours of their first day of travel seemed well off enough, however, the panda that she transported seemed to stick to himself, while at times simply roaming about the ship, examining this and that for no particular reason. It was late afternoon the second day when Kursed was busy in her docking bay repairing her only Arwing, when the doctor walked slowly in……

"I she you attempt to busy yourself with manual labor to offset your emotions." He said causing the vixen to slip her grip banging her knee with a wrench.

The vixen hobbled for a moment hissing in pain, "What are you talking about old man?" She demanded.

The panda sighed as he walked in no general direction, "You work alone, and yet your ship is the cleanest I have ever seen, even when I was a Naval Medic for a Cornerian ship." Zang pointed out, "You now busy yourself with a fighter that is not in need of any repairs or maintenance." He half smiled, "You try far too hard to hide your feelings from yourself my dear."

Kursed looked to the old panda, "You're not just some old man…" She said, "What the hell are you?"

Zang chuckled lowly, "I am……just an old man." He said, "However, like you I have heard the thoughts and feelings of others around me since I was very young. Telepathy is not nearly as rare an ability as you might believe."

"You've been in my head?" She demanded.

The doctor sighed, "I feel that I much apologize. But, in your mind I see such a bright, loving young lady. May I ask what happened to……Krystal?"

Kursed simply looked to the ship lowering her head, "……she died. I can't afford to be that person anymore…she was weak…the weak die, and I can't afford to die, not yet."

"Revenge?" The panda asked, "Is that what keeps you alive?"

The vixen suddenly threw her wrench to the ground, "You're getting way to nosey old man." She growled.

"I apologize…" Zang said, "You see…my wife, she was killed when Katina was invaded. I managed to get to the evacuation ships that were being sent off of the planet. She had a magnificent spirit." He said, "You see, she would go out of her way to help anyone that she was certain needed her help…even if that person did not want her assistance, she would make certain that said person would have the knowledge that they could come to her for help." He said with a smile to the white furred vixen, "I extend this same offer to you……as well as any other animal, in her name."

Kursed sighed…

"Mia…she had this saying…" He said, "_Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. But, today is a gift, that is why it is called the present._"

The vixen thought for a moment, "Do……" She paused, "What do you know about something called The Wraiths?"

The old man mused, "Hmmm……this information would help you in some way?"

Kursed turned to him, "More than you'll ever know."

The panda looked at her for a moment and his short smile slowly shifted to a saddened look, "They took him from you." He said, "I see…" He added standing and heading out of the room, "My client on Virranas, he is very well informed…I will gather what information I can from him."

Kursed kept her face turned toward her fighter in hopes that the animal would not see the tears in her eyes, "If you can get any information……I'll drop my fee."

"I will do what I can." The old bear replied as he slowly moved out of the docking bay.

**********

Another day slunk by in hyperspace, and Kursed still kept herself busy just as the old bear had said, mainly with manual labor of some kind. She found that the trip was not as plain as she'd have though, it seemed to pass relatively quickly though there was an awkward moment or two in which the doctor had found her, wrapped in the overbearing weight of her sorrows. She found it odd however, he never said anything when he had found her crying, he would simply sigh and leave her to herself. Perhaps he was simply showing enough respect to leave her be, or simple was afraid to bother her; either way about it, he had managed to leave her be until the day they reached the planet Virranas. At one time Virranas was a shining example of Lylatian influence in the Stygian system, a Utropolis, a planetary city. One of the only three in the former Trinity Accord. Kursed looked out over the massive city as the automated landing systems that had been programed into ROB took over, slowly taking the ship down into the hanger they had reserved. Luckily not all of Andrew's influences had reached out this far…Stygian was still it's own star system and there was no full control over anyone or anything there. The city itself was split among three parts; upper, middle, and lower city. The upper city was located roughly a mile or so above ground, while middle city, and lower city culminated the area beneath; lower city was were they were headed. It was a place where nobody would ever look for them, and most of all, it was dangerous. The place seemed to soak up all the pollution from the other two tiers of the city, it was where anyone could get anything done for the right price……

Kursed was amazed at how quickly the panda was willing to take the tram down to the lower parts of the city. The tram was no more than a monorail train that ran along a spiral track leading down through middle and lower city. It was sitting there in that small car of the tram that the white furred vixen could see and hear how things went in the city. Animals of all sorts, and backgrounds grouped together, she could hear all sorts of thoughts; shameful, sorrowful, hopeful, lustful……it was the same no matter where she went in modern civilization. People didn't think about each other anymore, only of themselves. There were several young males in the back of this very car. She could hear their devious thoughts, chatting softly amongst themselves about attacking and raping some young female they'd passed boarding the tram. The pale furred vixen looked over the small crowed; it was a young wolf, rather stout, strong looking, and his two friends, a young black furred panther, and a green feathered avian. She glared in their direction before looking back to the panda. They reminded her of Star Wolf, had the avian been a chameleon it would have fit them all perfectly. The vixen ran a paw over a flap of cloth that hung from her neck, it was a long cloak to keep her weapon from being too obvious. It was as the tram stopped it's first time that she stepped aside to allow a small group of animals to go by; one being a young, fairly attractive little minx girl with golden colored fur and hair. Followed by the three that Kursed had noticed. She was conflicted, until a paw touched hers causing her to look to the doctor……

"Go…" He half whispered, "I will stay on the tram and wait for you to return."

Without a second thought the vixen rushed out the door; her mind was still locked on to the young wolf's. His thoughts disgusted her to no end, she'd seen the same sort of thoughts toward her far too many times…and foiled an attempt or two as well. Middle city was much more like upper city, than anything else, it was simply cast in the eternal shadow of the city above. It was understandable that the predators would look to victimize someone here. It was far too easy for someone to find a decent hiding place here…where they could get away with just about whatever they wanted. The wolf she still kept a lock on; he was young, and completely out of control of his own hormones, along with a strange thirst he had for blood…he not only had mind to rape the young minx they were following……he had plans of killing her as well. Kursed looked over the side of the catwalk that she followed the young triad of animals along; it looked down into lower city over a protective railing. The catwalks were like floating sidewalks over the heads of the people and city far below. She had thoughts of simply tossing them over the railing and watching them scream to the ground nearly a mile below. The three would never see her coming, she would be gone long before they ever even had the notion to turn around. When the three were free, or at least thought they were, the young wolf made his move. He was like some sort of snake, they'd clearly planned this out. He quickly lurched up behind the young minx pulling her into a small service area between two buildings. It happened so fast that Kursed was hardly able to believe it, however, as soon as the other two followed behind him, she was quick to follow in step. The young wolf had his paw wrapped around the golden furred girl's muzzle while holding a knife to the side of her neck. The only thing that really drew the three drooling beasts' attention away from their prize, was the sound of footsteps behind them. The wolf's attention was the main one she wanted at the moment and she got it……

"Who the fuck are you!?" He demanded, "Always room for one more!"

Kursed slowly dropped the cloak that hid her attire and weapon, "Promises, promises." She replied slowly pulling her Scythe.

The black feline of the tree instantly stepped away from his friends with a horrified look on his face……

"Niki what the fuck is your problem?!" The wolf demanded.

The feline stumbled over a trash can barely catching himself, "Kursed……" He muttered, barely loud enough for the others to hear.

The minx looked to her with worried, yet pleading eyes……

"Listen…" The panther Niki said, "I never wanted any of this, this was all D's idea." He pleaded backing against the wall.

Kursed turned an accusing eye to him before looking to his friends, he was telling the truth, "Go home boy." She whispered, "You don't need to see this."

As the panther rushed off, the others looked to Kursed, "Hah." The wolf scoffed, "Kursed? I don't see what the big deal is. Just another bitch to me." He said, "Tony…" He said looking to his avian friend, "Handle the "so called" bounty hunter."

Kursed's eyes turned to the avian as he reached into his small blue vest producing a small blaster, which he proceeded to aim in the white vixen's direction. However, all she did in reprisal was glare angrily at him. The avian looked to his wing with a horrified look on his face; the weapon and his wing seemed to both twist toward his wolf friend…

"Tony! What the fuck are you doing!?" He shouted.

Tony struggled against his moving arm, even attempting to use his other arm as a means of forcing it to comply, "I-I-I-It's n-not me." He shouted, "This bitch must be doing it!"

The wolf looked to Kursed only to see her wearing a smug grin……

"Let 'im go or the bitch dies." He shouted placing an emphasis on the knife in his paw.

Kursed thought for a moment resting her paw on her thigh…

"Are you really this desperate……Damion?" She asked causing the wolf to look at her in surprise that she knew his name, "None of the men I've ever know are so pathetic as to need to rape someone to get laid. Then again, maybe you'd be just as disappointing if she wasn't being forced."

The wolf growled in anger before a silver blur shot by knocking the knife from his paw. He screamed out throwing the young minx to the ground, who quickly rushed toward her pale furred savior only to have her arm caught by the avian, who's other wing was impaled by a small straight shaft of metal, which had clearly robbed him of his weapon. He now however found himself with the curved blade of a scythe about his neck…

"This is your last chance." She warned him as the young minx stood behind her shaking, "Trust me when I say that I'm not into repeating myself."

The avian looked to the wolf behind him, while keeping a clear eye on the blade at his throat, "D……I-I'm sorry man." He said cradling his heavily bleeding wing, "But, this is too much. I'm not letting my mom bury my ass for this stupid shit." He said looking back to Kursed, "I-I'm sorry……just let me get to a hospital, okay?"

Kursed glared at him, "Don't apologize……just get out of my sight."

As the avian left the small alleyway, the wolf took the moment to go on an offensive, lunging at the white furred vixen with his claws bared. Kursed's motion wasn't to move herself, rather she tripped the young minx causing her to fall back against the wall and out of harms way. The young Lupine's claws cleanly grazed the side of Kursed's cheek, leaving three small trails of blood behind. Before his feet could even touch the ground, the vixen's leg slammed into his knee, sending him spinning sideways. Just as he spun into an upside down position, the vixen reached out with a forceful overhand punch; her fist connected between his legs, before driving his skull into the hard ground under foot. The young minx took the opportunity to stand up, she'd never seen a female fight so ferociously. The motions that Kursed had made were such that, the few times she did attack…the minx did not even see it……

"Are you alright?" Kursed asked looking to her.

The minx nodded, "Yo-you're hurt."

Kursed ran a paw over the injury on her cheek, a simple scratch compared to others, "Don't worry. I heal fast." She said, "You're not hurt?"

The minx looked herself over before pulling the strap of the tank top she'd been wearing up, covering her revealed breast, "Ruined my favorite shirt…and broke my bra, but, I'm okay." She replied, "Thank you."

"Don't mention it." Kursed replied pulling a blaster from a holster behind her back, "Here…" She said tossing it to the minx, "Learn how to use it. Pretty girl like you needs to know how to defend herself." She said walking away, "You should head home now."

The minx looked to the unconscious wolf laying in the alley, "What about him?"

"Call the cops, kill him…your choice." The vixen replied.

It wasn't long after Kursed got back to the tram that it stopped at the station; she quickly boarded it and sat next to the old panda that waited for her……

"The Kursed that I have heard talk of was not nearly so caring." Zang said in a low tone.

Kursed looked out the window with a sigh, "People say what they want……I could care less."

"I can see that…" The panda replied with a smile, "Can you honestly convince yourself of the same?"

Kursed sighed, "Just shut up old man."

The panda chuckled as he looked away…

**********

Kursed was getting impatient; she'd been left sitting in an empty room in a run down old building for so far, just over four hours and she was beginning to regret telling Doctor Zang that she'd wait for him…but, the information he'd promised her in place of money was more than she could simply pass up. She sat by simply making certain that her thoughts were only of her job to keep from letting her thoughts wander. She wondered what the deal was with this animal the doctor was working on; he must have been someone important if the panda was so certain that he'd have the kind of information that she needed. The light furred vixen sighed as she looked about the room; the place smelled pretty bad for what Zang called a Doctor's Office, but, then again what he was doing was illegal so such a grungy place was probably his best option, it was a rather small building, tucked away in the middle of a back street that seemed pretty devoid of life, it was clear that this place was only known by the people that knew the good doctor. The rustic little building's interior was rather drab, with empty bottles and such…empty cans scattered the floor along with old newspapers and some other things she was not so sure of. The building was clearly some sort of; hotel or apartment complex of some kind, as there was a receptionist's desk in front of her, however it was just like most of the rest of the building, it was black, like it had at some point been on fire. The vixen let out a long winded sigh, before a door opened allowing a dark gray furred Coyote to step out; he was wearing a patch over his left eye, and a light green vest and cargo pants, followed by the doctor……

"Ah…" He said, "I apologize miss. This is Akuba Reiko."

The Coyote extended his paw graciously, "Most people call me Reiko." He said simply lowering his paw as it was clear she wanted nothing to do with it, "Zang told me you were looking for someone…since you escorted him here I guess that means I owe you…"

Kursed pulled the photo that Zig had given here and handed it to Reiko, "These people killed someone very important to me. I've been looking for them for some time and this is the closest I've gotten so far."

Reiko studied it closely, the vixen noted that there was something about the way he was looking at the photo, "I've heard of these guys." He said, "They're good…assassins, lot of people don't believe they exist because of lack of sightings…I just say they're that good."

"You've see 'em before?" Kursed asked.

"No but, I wish you luck trying to find 'em." He said, "I once heard that there's a Wraith no matter what city you're in, no matter where you go. So if you aren't finding them…they either don't exist, or you're having the same luck finding them that everyone else is."

Kursed thought for a moment, "Wait, you said…there's a Wraith in every city? Right?"

Reiko chuckled, "No. I said, that's what I've heard. There's no guarantee that you're going to find these people Kursed."

The vixen huffed at him before looking to the doctor……

"Don't toss this at him." Reiko said, "You really think I wouldn't know who the hell you are? The white furred Angel of Death…deadliest bounty hunter in Lylat. Oh I've heard of you…I'm surprised everyone hasn't." He said handing her back the photo, "I really wish I could help you further but, I can't…"

Kursed shoved the photo into the folder, "Fine…you kept your end of the bargain Doc…keep your money." She sighed leaving the building.

Kursed stopped for a moment and sighed, it had all been a waste of time, and she was certain that she'd found something important this time. With another disappointed sigh, the white furred bounty hunter headed off into lower city, she'd head back to upper city where she'd try to find a decent room for the night…

**********

The panda doctor took a seat in the burnt out old waiting room after the vixen had left. He was certain that Reiko would have helped her but, in the end he was wrong and now felt horrible for wasting the poor girl's time. A saddened sigh from the old man caught the gray furred Coyote's attention from across the room…

"You said it yourself Zang." He said, "She's after blood. I couldn't risk it."

The panda held up a paw, "No I understand…" He said, looking out the window watching her walk off, "I just wish there was another way to help her. The poor girl is destroying herself trying to find the Wraiths. You know she'll never stop."

Reiko sighed, "Yeah I could see it in her eyes." He said holding his fingers against his head next to his ear, "Six…you see her?" He asked clearly on a communicator, "Good…don't let her out of your sight. And don't let her see you……she's……dangerous."

"You don't trust her?" Zan asked.

Reiko sighed, "I don't trust anyone that can pry into my thoughts." He replied, "I'm not going to hurt her or anything, I just want some eyes on her while she's here…or at least while I'm here."

"Like I said you're free to move about an all just make certain that this patch stays on for at least a day." The doctor said, "It will take some time for the Link to work itself into you synapses."

Reiko sighed, "I'm gonna miss my real eye." He said running his paw over the patch over his left eye.

**********

Kursed wandered into the room she'd rented for the night; it was a modest little hole for what it had cost her, nothing her pockets as a bounty hunter wouldn't miss. It was in a high up place, one of the tallest buildings she'd seen in this small region of Upper City, it made her feel a bit safer knowing that she could see her hanger where her ship was birthed. She sighed a bit however as she sat on the disturbingly comfortable bed; it was a bit too large for her to sleep comfortably tonight, there was a large plasma television, but, she didn't care for tv that much really. The room had two large windows across from her bed, giving her a panoramic view of the city, at the moment her only real concern was with the huge tub that lay in the bathroom. The vixen dropped most of her gear to the bed and headed out into the bathroom. The tub was pretty big, one of the biggest she'd ever seen actually, at least for a solo room…the vixen slowly peeled away her outfit before stepping into the waters, letting out a relieved sigh as she lowered herself into the waters…but, her relief was fleeting, as she leaned her head to rest on the far end of the tub. Her mind slowly slipped back to her slightly depressed state, she was certain that she was so very close to finding a good lead to who these Wraiths were. She slowly slid down until her muzzle was the only part of her that wasn't fully submerged…

"What am I gonna do?" She asked herself, even though with her ears underwater she could only hear muffled sounds, "These guys are like ghosts. I'm starting to think they may not even exist."

She wasn't sure how long her bath lasted, but, it didn't matter it was the most relaxed she'd been in a very long time. She found a bath robe on the wall and slowly walked back out to the bed, she'd have her gear washed and wear it again in the morning. Right now she simply wanted to lay down, and hopefully, for a moment, forget that this day had even happened…

**********

A young animal stood on a solemn rooftop dressed in white robes; Reiko had given her an order to watch the vixen that had come to see him. She still didn't see how the pretty little vixen she was watching could possibly have been so dangerous that he wanted her watched. Her perch was high up, there was little chance of her being spotted…it was lowly lit, and for the most part she was well hidden. She perched atop a small rail, displaying that her balance was a far shot above what other animals would have thought possible. She eventually moved to a sitting position, and sighed…she'd been sitting there for nearly an hour and it didn't seem like the vixen was doing anything but enjoying her……

The young assassin couldn't believe her eyes, she'd only taken her eyes off the vixen for a moment and now she was already gone. She quickly pulled her specs out and searched the area for the white furred vixen she'd been watching…however, there was nothing. It was as she panicked however that the familiar sound of cloth flapping against the wind caught her attention causing her to drop her binoculars…

"Turn around." A voice behind her demanded, "NOW!"

She slowly did as she was told, only to find the vixen standing there with her Scythe ready…

"Where are the other Wraiths?"

The animal simply looked back over her shoulder, "There's no way out of this…" Kursed explained, "There's only one way down and it's behind me."

The assassin simply held out her paws and leaped backward over the rail, causing Kursed to rush to the rail. She then noticed the animal release a small weapon that produced a wire which she then swung away on. The young assassin landed in the street and simply cast aside the item before reaching her fingers to her ear and rushing off…

"Two…" She called, "This is Six. I have a problem. She spotted me I have no idea how she did it but she spotted me." She shouted rushing down the streets, "I think I lost her on the rooftops but, I'm not sure."

The assassin rushed down the street, and soon found herself completely out of breath; however, as she rushed off hoping she could keep away from the bounty hunter, something stuck the ground with a metallic chime only for her to notice that several small metal spikes were lodged into the road at her feet. The animal quickly leaped away hiding behind a vehicle…

"Two…" She half shouted out of breath, "…she caught me. I……I can't even see her."

A huff of air caught the assassin's attention before a chill ran up her spine, "Try looking behind you." The vixen's voice growled.

The assassin quickly rolled to her left, only to feel the air of the Scythe's blade tug at her fur…and in an instant the vehicle she'd used for cover slowly fell into two equal halves. She looked on in amazement and horror, she'd never known a blade could be so sharp. However, she dove away and with cat like agility managed to get to the top of a street light out of the deadly weapon's reach. Unfortunately, if the Scythe had cut through a car, a street light was hardly any different. The young assassin grasped desperately at the hub of the street light as it toppled to the ground, sending the animal rolling across the street and into the wall of a tall building. Kursed made her way quickly to the downed animal, only to see that her hood had fallen away from her head, revealing a very lovely pink furred feline's face who's muzzle was covered by a small black cowel. She instantly recognized the light green eyes, and incredibly feminine features of Katt Monroe…however her attention was quickly driven away toward the sound of approaching sirens; her spectacle had attracted the local authorities, so it was best that she made herself scarce…and quickly. The vixen managed to clear the streets just before the police managed to arrive at the destructive scene. Now as she stood in her room, looking out over the city, the young vixen knew……the Wraiths were real, and one of her best friends was one of them.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3:** Driven……

Kursed was forced to wait, the news was plastered with a video someone had captured of the vixen in her attempts to kill the assassin she'd nearly captured. She felt horrible now, there was no way for Katt to realize that it was even her old friend Krystal that was trying to destroy her. The vixen sighed as she looked to her Scythe, how close it had been, she had nearly stained her paws with her own friend's blood. The questions tore at her soul. Why would Katt be in league with the assassins that killed some of her closest friends? And when had she become so skilled? The old feline she'd known was good, after all she had trained in the same place as Fox, Slippy, and Falco…but, last night the young vixen had a bit of trouble catching her. It was clear that the feline had some sort of reasoning, but, as of now there was no way of knowing. The lights of Sol would never really get to the city today, harsh rain clouds drowned out the light of the bright yellow star, maliciously depriving the section of the planet wide city of daylight. A little rain never hurt anyone however, and this vixen wanted answers. Her step was fueled by a bitter mixture of rage and confusion…any mugger, or rapist would have made a dreadful mistake in targeting the vixen at this time. She always made it a habit of allowing a person the chance to turn back, or turn themselves in…the sort of chances she knew her old leader Fox McCloud would have given them; but, in her current state of mind, there was little chance of that. Were she to attack anyone now, the only thing she would see, would be a white cloaked murderer that she missed an opportunity on before…

It was as she found her seat on the tram leading to lower city, that she lowered her head into her paws, covering her eyes and rubbing them with her palms. The stress of the whole thing was driving her mad, she'd open her eyes and swear that she saw a Wraith for a moment, all before realizing that she was simply seeing things. The thoughts of the male that sat uncomfortably close to her didn't help matters any either. She could have sworn that any male she'd ever known had only one thing on his absent mind…with an exception of a few rare animals. She could almost feel his thoughts when he reached out a paw for her shoulder…

"Excuse me miss…I…."

He was met with a cold stare that caused him to freeze, "Touch me with that paw and I'll rip it off."

Seemingly swallowing a knot of fear that instantly developed in his throat, the raccoon instantly recoiled and fell back, slinking away from the psychotic female. She felt a bit bad for him on some level, after all he was only intending to ask her out to lunch…it would have been a nice change of pace for once; but she'd have felt out of place, even as far as feeling like she was doing something terrible to Fox, even though he was already dead. She wondered if these strange thoughts that she found inside the heads of males was simply natural…though she'd never actually seen the contents of McCloud's mind for some reason, she was certain she could see such thought in his eyes as well…though his were most likely of a more innocent nature, as any time she caught him looking at her in such a manner his face grew to be as red as an overripe tomato. It was strange to her, any other male that looked at her, or thought about her in that way made her furious, but, when it was Fox……

The vixen quickly shook her head, she was dwelling on the past again. Luckily the tug of the electrically guided tram coming to a halt was enough to rid her of the thoughts; there were much bigger, more present matters that she had to deal with…and she was certain that they began with a certain doctor. Standing at his door for a moment, the vixen huffed angrily…this animal had lied to her, about something very important. The vixen's Scythe slid through the door in a manner not much unlike a heated knife cutting through butter, but instead of the anticipated nothingness that she was certain awaited her inside, she found an old panda sitting in a small chair facing the door…

"I believe you owe me a door child."

Kursed sighed, "You knew I was coming." She pointed out, "Why didn't you say something?"

"Would that have spared my door of that rather undeserving fate?" He asked, "You are very angry; understandably so. I would much rather you took a bit of your anger out on that door, to sooth that bloodlust of yours for at least a moment."

The vixen quickly made her way to the small table he sat at slamming her palms onto the table's surface, "You're going to tell me where I can find those people…" She demanded.

Zang chuckled to himself, "Dear child. You honestly think there's anything you can do to frighten me?" He asked, "I'm over one hundred years old, more than half blind, and alone……killing me would only serve as an act of kindness, and torture is most definitely something you have no stomach for. With that Empathic power of yours, my pain would drive you mad far before it got to me."

Kursed gritted her teeth, he was right, she was Empathic…she could sense and feel emotion much more powerfully than she could thoughts. She sat down in another seat, with a hopeless sight…

"Do not be so distressed child." Zang said, "I have every intention of telling you where to find the Wraiths; but, only because I have faith that you will in time do the right thing." Kursed looked to him stunned, "Reiko has asked me to inform you of a meeting going on in Kew City." He said, "He believes that you will find this meeting most interesting, it will be held at this address."

The vixen reached out taking a small note from the doctor, "How do I know this isn't just some sort of set up?"

"You don't…" The doctor replied, "…all you can do for now is trust me when I tell you that nothing is as it seems. Do not always believe in what your eyes tell you…and try not to rely on telepathy to tell you everything, the minds of others can lie to you just as much as your own eyes."

Kursed thought for a moment before turning and heading to the doorway, "Thank you…and I apologize for the door."

"Kursed…" The bear called, "Remember that "he" would never rush blindly into killing without careful thought and consideration of the repercussions. You could end up doing something you will regret for the rest of your days."

The wet, pale furred vixen sighed…and with a light nod headed out into the rain. She couldn't wait to put this city and planet behind her…

**********

Only about an hour passed before the vixen found herself floating in the planet's orbit. Taking a shower while her clothes dried, waiting for ROB to secure a safe path toward Kew. As she stood there under the hot stream of water, Kursed pulled her long hair over her shoulder to allow the water access to the back of her neck. She sighed as her thoughts moved back to the feline she'd nearly killed; how would she feel at this moment had she actually killed the animal? She wiped away a stray tear, regardless of how useless an act it was with the shower constantly washing over her face. With a jolt she suddenly was snapped out of an emotional state that held her there…ROB had just made a Warp Jump with the ship, he'd apparently found a safe passage. Personally calculated Hyperspace paths were a thing of the past and were very seldom used in the modern age; the slightest miscalculation could send a ship right through a star, or hurdling into an asteroid belt, however, with being built by Slippy the vixen had every confidence in ROB's logistic skills. So far he'd not steered her wrong. She knew that it would be a log, three day trip to Kew, which meant another jump between star systems, she grimaced at the thought of the trip ahead of her as she stepped out of her shower and wrapped herself in her light green bathrobe…and entering her room let out a dreary sigh while falling to her bed. She hated Kew City, it was one of the few things in the galaxy she could actually say she absolutely hated; it was a polluted, trash ridden hellhole, the sky was always tainted a hideous orange color, and the weather there was more erratic than that on Sauria. She only hoped that getting some sleep tonight would actually help her to stop thinking about it, most of the time she dreaded sleep for the return of the nightmares that plagued her mind…

**********

She wasn't sure what hour it was, she knew it was early, far too early to be waking up…but, the nightmares gave her quite a start in waking her. She simply ran her paw down the front of her face. She didn't know why it was so hard. Why was it so difficult to keep the thoughts out of her head? She'd tried everything that her mother had done for her as a child to ward off bad dreams, but nothing worked, in the end the vixen found herself falling back to her old ways. Scanning the ship for anything that was off, or out of whack. She eventually found her way to a the docking bay; there wasn't much to do here either. She'd done repairs on everything in the large room, when she was transporting the doctor to his location. The vixen sighed, there had to be something to keep her mind busy, but, it seemed like the more she tried, the further she sunk. Finally however in a fit of desperation the young vixen headed to the ship's kitchen, and simply sat at a table helping herself to a cup of coffee…

"This is gonna be a long trip." She said to herself.

The vixen lay her head on the table with a yawn, "I could really use some more sleep though."

She hadn't even realized it before her arms gave out, causing her body to fall limply against the table, which tossed her mug of coffee to the floor. She'd lost so much sleep recently that it had finally caught up with her…

The exhausted young vixen woke on the floor, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. She could feel the thoughts of a thousand animals all at once, the instant notion hit her; she was on Kew in the heart of the city. She slowly sat up on the cold metal floor and used her paws to press in on her lower back causing it to pop several times…

"Whew…" She sighed, "Best sleep I've have in weeks. Maybe I should sleep in the kitchen more often."

The white furred bounty hunter slowly made herself a cup of coffee, after cleaning up the spill from the other she'd had. She wondered just how long it was she'd been asleep there, or how many times it was she'd woken up through the night but, figured it was much better to simply leave it be. Right now however the vixen's mind was only on breakfast, she was hungry, very hungry which told her that she must have been out for some time indeed. Cooking for herself was something the vixen had come to fear, she hated admitting that of all places in Lylat, the kitchen was not somewhere she belonged. Kursed smiled, quite pleased with herself however, when she sat in front of a meal that wasn't burnt. It was as she sat there eating, that she looked over the paper she was given. What kind of meeting could be so important? And could she really trust the source of this information? If anything else she could always return to the old panda and use him as bait; he did, after all, seem to know this Reiko character pretty well. It was a short meal before she headed out into the city; it was the same damp cesspool she recalled. The city was dark, but, oddly enough she found that it wasn't raining just yet. Her short trip through the streets landed her at the building listed on the address she'd been given; something didn't feel right at all. The place she'd been given directions to was an old skyscraper near the center of the city. However, where better to hold a meeting than here? She thought. The vixen headed up the fire escape of the old building and found a small spot on the room overlooking the city, where she could watch the entrance to the building. As the hours passed however, the vixen became inpatient, and soon night set in. It was as she realized that she'd been sitting there all day that the vixen ground her teeth in anger, she should have known something wasn't right. This place didn't smell off at all, it just smelled……

**********

**Katina……**

**12:35pm……**

**********

A slightly tall animal in set of white robes stood at the edge of a skyscraper rooftop overlooking the beautiful city before him. The gray furred coyote pulled a white hood over his head and turned to several others dressed like him. One was much taller, with a huge build, his bright red furred tail gave away that the large animal was clearly a fox. Another was only just shorter than Reiko, like the others he dawned a white hood and robes, his tail however was tightly wrapped in bandages from base to tip, his build was a bit wider than the coyote's. The last of the animals was shortest of all of them, with a long pink furred feline tail…

"Akuba I'm still a little worried about Kursed." She said, "Don't you think pissing her off is the last thing we should do?"

Reiko sighed, "Trust me. I'd rather she was on our side, but, she means to kill us for some reason."

The larger fox stepped forward, "Look Katt. I agree with you…" He said, "But we had to give her the slip. We couldn't risk her following us. Andrew's still looking for McCloud…this is a prime opportunity for us to attack his Generals. We already heard that Scarlet is supposed to me here tonight…so stay focused."

"Creed's right…" Reiko said, "For now, at least. Stay focused on the job at hand, Scarlet knows we're out for Andrew's men so keep on your toes." He said, "When we get back to HQ we can see if Eight's found anything new on McCloud." He said, "They should be along any time now. Katt take Creed and head off to the first marker. Follow those fucks here and make sure they don't stray off."

Katt sighed, "Alright…you and Seven be careful."

As the young feline and fox headed off Reiko sighed looking to the feline, "I don't like lying to her like that." He said, "When are we gonna tell her the truth about McCloud? It's gonna make her pretty upset, you know I don't like seeing her cry."

Seven lowered his head, "Not sure, can't have her getting emotional in a crisis situation though." He said, "We need her…What are you gonna do about Kursed though? She nearly killed Katt as it was…she's good, maybe even better than in the rumors."

"You have no idea…" Reiko said looking to the sky, "Man that vixen's got a nice ass though. Scythe kinda scares me though." He said looking back to Seven, "She's far from stupid though. That little ruse I set up is only gonna last one night, she's gonna come look'n for us and she's gonna be livid."

"Yeah." Seven replied standing up, "Lets just get this job done and go home."

Reiko looked out into the city only to see a slight flash of light from the top of a far off building, "They're on their way…just passed checkpoint number one." He said with a sigh, "Let's get this over with quickly."

With that they two quickly vanished into the shadows, their days of planning were about to be put to the test…and hopefully, hearing the news that one of his Generals were dead would let Andrew know that his time was drawing to an immediate end…

**********

**Zig's Bar……**

**Three days later……**

**********

"You heard didn't you?" The iguana asked as the white furred bounty hunter sat there constantly carving the same nook into the counter with her index claw, "One of the Emperor's Generals died the other day." He said sliding her a newspaper.

It was a paper that the Emperor had no control over; a public, underground paper that let the masses know the news that Andrew didn't want them to know. The front page was centered with the image of the old Katinan Military HQ, where Andrew held some of his meetings. Just above the door was a red furred vixen, dead, tied to the large Venomian military symbol that had been placed above the door. It was more than a bold statement, it was a war declaration……

"Hmm…Scarlet Harris." The vixen said, "Anyone know who did it?"

"Nope…" Zig replied, "But, I think you've already got your finger pointed don't you?"

She knew it had to be then, they were assassins and had even taken out Star Fox; yet, there was something wrong about this. Andrew kept a hold on the entirety of the Lylat system, through his nine Generals, the people of every city, no matter where they were, were kept in a tight hold and barely left with enough to survive. Who the hell could have afforded to pay assassins to take out a hit on a General? The vixen puzzled over it for a time; if they attacked Star Fox, that meant they were working for Andrew…why then would they take out a hit on Andrew's men, when the Emperor could clearly pay them more money?

"Unless this isn't about money…" She said to herself, "Let's see here. Scarlet was the lowest in the chain of Commands. What if they're starting something, by taking out the Generals?"

Zig raised an eyebrow, "What?"

"I don't know their reasoning…" She said, "But, think about it. If you were going to take out the Nine, wouldn't you go for the weakest one first?" She asked.

Zig chuckled, "You're really putting some thought into this."

"Zig I already know that you know a lot more than you're willing to tell me." She said, "And since you were Fox's friend and informant of this city's underside…I'm deciding to ignore that…but, I need you to tell me the truth this time and right now."

Zig sighed and sat down pouring himself a drink, "Fine…you want the truth here it is." He said, "Yeah, the Wraiths are real. You ran into one you should know…but. You can't find their base of operations because, they don't have one. They're nomads, they move from planet to planet. Recently they were here on Katina…for that reason right there in front of you." He said tapping the paper, "I'm not sure if they're still around, but, they usually do leave behind a man or two for a few days for a follow up of some kind."

"So……I should be able to find one of them here in the city?"

Zig chuckled, "I think if you tried hard enough you could find at least one Wraith in every city in Lylat. I guess you could say they live in the shadows, they're assassins after all. Why do you want them so badly anyhow?"

"They were the ones that killed Fox." She said lowering her head.

Zig thought for a moment, "I doubt that." He said.

"I don't!!!" The vixen shouted, "I watched one of them shoot Slippy! He would have shot me too…if Slippy hadn't pushed me through that window." She said quieting her voice, "I just want the ones responsible for killing my friends. This is two families I've lost…"

Zig patted her shoulder, "Listen…" He said, "…if you're gonna search start with the Embassy. The Wraiths have a thing against Andrew and his men. They're probably keeping dibs on that place since he turned it into a munitions compound. From what I hear Powalski likes to hang out around that place." He said, "If anything else, you know you could always go after the Generals yourself…bound to run into a Wraith or two on that line."

Kursed chuckled, "Yeah. I wouldn't mind shoving this up that ape's ass…" She said patting the scythe on her back, "…but, the last thing I need is Andrew and his men breathing down my neck." She said, "So you gonna tell me any more about these Wraiths?"

"Sorry chick." He replied, "Last thing I need is a gang of assassins out for my tail."

Kursed sighed, "Fine……" She said, "Thanks anyhow."

The vixen slowly walked out of the bar into streets; she quickly stopped in place, something felt off to her. She quickly looked to the roofs only to barely see a small white object vanish over the edge of the rooftops. She squinted a bit, someone was following her; but, why couldn't she hear any thoughts? Even with the strongest willed mind she would get some sort of mental feedback. The vixen quickly made her way up to the rooftops; she'd learned better than to let these animals stay on the rooftops too long, whoever they were they'd trained Katt to be much more agile and sure footed than she'd ever been. As she finally reached the rooftop of the building nearest to her, the white furred vixen looked out over the highrise. A short ways off, on another building, stood an animal dressed much like Katt had been, thought with a long tail so heavily bandaged that she couldn't really make out what kind of animal it was. The assassin simply stood there for a moment looking in her direction; Kursed however couldn't help but to be frozen in place. This animal was only about a hundred yards away and yet she couldn't sense a single thought, or motive. The white cloaked animal stood there, not moving an inch as if inviting her to give some sort of chase……

The vixen made her way from rooftop to rooftop as easily as the assassin would have, only to suddenly stop at a massive gap across a very wide street. She looked down to the street far below, and back to the animal that stood across from her. She could tell from the animal's build, and stature that it was clearly a male; the most infuriating thing however, was that he simply kept standing there while she looked across the massive gap. It was a large gap, though one she was certain she could make at a good running start. Kursed knew that the jump however was not one any average animal would simply attempt. The white clad assassin quickly stepped back as he realized the vixen had dashed from one end of the rooftop to the other, before quickly turning about and launching herself from the ledge of the rooftop. She managed to clear the gap with enough room to spare that she attempted to tackle the animal, only to roll to one side. The vixen quickly leaped to her feet however swiping her claws at his face, an attack which the creature easily dodged, before flipping backward away from the bounty hunter's massive weapon; which scratched a deep gash into the rooftop in a powerful downward arch. However, as this happened she quickly shifted the attack swiping the scythe back in the opposite direction, causing the assassin to throw up his arm in defense. The scythe met with a metal chime, only to notice that he was wearing some sort of metal gauntlet; as she looked on two long blades projected from the armor just above his knuckles on either side of her weapon's blade, before he rolled to one side flinging it from her grasp, where the object spun through the air embedding it's long curved blade in the side of an A.C unit. Kursed instantly went to the offensive again; swiping her claws and feet at the animal's face, one swipe even gashed open his robe about his chest. The assassin however seemed to have enough, and before Kursed could even realize what had just happened, the animal's long metal claws swiped across her chest, though only close enough to tear open her suit, before another weapon found it's way to her throat. The assassin pressed a long combat knife against her neck forcing her to back away as he pushed forward backing the vixen into a wall….

Kursed growled angrily, he'd beaten her without even trying, at any moment he could slit her throat. She was ready, disappointed but, ready. The animal before her didn't move his knife, he simply remained in that position. She tried several times to see his face, but, the hood he wore did it's job in keeping his face hidden…

"DO IT!!" The vixen shouted suddenly.

In reaction the assassin made a swift motion with his paw down her front, she was certain he'd gutted her, however, she only felt a slight draft as her clothing fell away. Kursed quickly moved her paws to cover her exposed body, only to see the animal back away from her and turn around. At first she'd thought he might have had thoughts of ravaging her, however, she realized now that his act was not of any form of lust…rather, he was simply making certain that she would not follow him. It was as she stood there that the animal leaped to the next rooftop…

"Don't think for one second you've stopped anything!!" She shouted, "If it takes the rest of my life I'll kill every one of you!! You hear me!?!"

Kursed managed to salvage a bit of her clothing, tying what scraps she could around her to cover her move private areas, before dislodging her scythe from the air conditioning unit for the building. She looked around, hoping that she could still spot him, but, her target was long gone. She couldn't believe he'd resort to such an underhanded tactic to keep her from following him, but, she couldn't possibly follow him out into the streets in the state she was in. Instead she'd head back to her ship. While fighting the animal, she'd managed to place a tracking bug on him, she could check it out once she got back to the ship. She figured she'd be fine if she stayed to the rooftops most of the way; indecent exposure in public wasn't a charge she wanted after Andrew's influence had spread to the police departments, god only knew what kind of shit a corrupt police force would do to her. It wasn't long before she found her way to her ship, she was quick to change out of her uniform, happy that she had more than one, she loved the suit; it was specially made just for her…

The vixen sighed as she headed toward the kitchen of her ship, had she not managed to place the bug on the assassin in the middle of their fight, she would have been very upset at the moment. However as she made her way onto the bridge, and activated the tracking program for the device she simply received a static screen with a smaller, clear screen at it's center housing the words; _Tracking beacon offline._ There were only two distinct reasons for such a message upon running the program; it was either destroyed, or he'd turned it off, and either one meant that it had been discovered. The white furred vixen let out a growl of frustration that slowly boiled over into a rage filled scream as she turned about, driving her fist into the wall of the ship; only to recoil with a loud yelp of pain, cradling her paw. She was certain she'd broken a knuckle or two; with a hiss of pain she interlaced her fingers, pulling her curled fingers back into a normal position with a loud pop and a short yelp of pain. She couldn't believe she'd let herself get beaten so easily, it angered her to a level that she rarely knew. However, it wouldn't stop her, she'd find them again…if it took an eternity, she'd find them and make them pay for what they'd done to her life……

**********

**Six months later……**

**Kew's Fourth moon……**

**********

Taking up refuge in an old abandoned hanger on a Kewian moon; Reiko and his group sat and waited. They'd not heard from several members in a while, and since then he'd sent out several scouts to those assassins' most recent locations. He'd begun to worry, since a certain member of his group had decided to try scaring Kursed away, the vixen had gone on the hunt for just about anyone even remotely looking like a Wraith. The Coyote slowly sighed, and moved about the large room nervously; 12 and 14 were the most recent to come up missing and at the moment he'd sent Creed and Katt out to find them. He closed his eyes in hope when he heard the animals enter the room, only to lower his ears at the sound of only two sets of footsteps. The large, red furred vulpine walked by laying his paw in Reiko's for a moment……

"I'm sorry Reiko…" He sighed leaving a pair of metal tags in his paw, embossed with the numbers 12 and 14.

Creed slowly walked away leaving Katt standing there. The feline noticed a tear fall on the tags that the Coyote couldn't seem to stop staring at…

"Reiko?" Katt called placing a paw on his shoulder, "Hey."

The animal quickly jerked his shoulder away from the feline, only to have him tromp over to the cloaked animal that sat in a windowsill looking out at the rain, where he threw the tags to the floor…

"I hope you're fucking happy!" He shouted, "Twenty three! She'd killed twenty three of us six goddamn months!" Seven seemed to simply ignore him picking up the tags slowly and lacing them around his neck with a mess of others, "I told you not to antagonize her! Just keep an eye on her! You let her live…and LOOK WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED!!!"

As if fully ignoring him, Seven lowered his head and slowly walked by and out the door with a somber stride to his step. Katt took the moment to approach Reiko…

"That wasn't fair Reiko…" She said, "They were his family too. Just because he only talks to you, doesn't mean we don't understand him."

Creed sighed, "She's right you know? I'm pretty sure nobody feels worse about this right now than he does."

Reiko took a deep, cleansing breath before looking to the window, "Creed, Katt. Tomorrow, you two are going to Papetoon…that was the last place she was seen…" He said, "Kill her…and make sure you watch her die. I don't want any mistakes. We're the only five left in our Sect…I don't want any more deaths."


	4. Chapter 4

**Author Notes:** _Well I was up late last night and couldn't sleep and for some reason this was the only fic i found myself able to think anything up for. The next chapter for Second Chances should be up soon, as well as the next chapter for CoF2. Hope you enjoy the chapter. XD enjoy and i'll see you all later..._

_The Footsteps in the Darkness ~ Skullfox_

_And _

_Mykll

* * *

  
_

**Chapter 4: **_Declarations of War……_

Kursed woke with a start; she wasn't used to falling asleep in such a comfortable bed as the one in the hotel she was staying in. It didn't help her any that she was becoming a bit paranoid that the dreams had stopped for the most part. However, she found that it was a far greater problem now, since she constantly worried that she'd close her eyes only to see her friends all die again. It was funny, every so often she would hear Fox's voice, as if he were standing right next to her bed; he would tell her to be brave, and stay strong…most often on those nights she would wake up calling his name, only to come to painful realization that she was now, as she would remain……alone. She sighed as she realized it was still dark out, she simply rubbed the back of her neck as she headed into her small room's bathroom; she really shouldn't have had so much to drink before bed, she figured it was possibly partially responsible for her waking so early. The young vixen stretched her back as she walked back into the room itself. She shivered a bit, as she realized that she'd left the AC on through the night; she'd developed a small habit of sleeping in her underwear which made her all that much colder as she draped a bathrobe over herself while she turned the AC up. Though she wasn't ready to wake up just yet, the vixen felt the compulsive need for a cup of coffee. As she sat at the room's small kitchen table with her drink she went over a small print out, covered with the names of places were she'd found a member of the assassin group; included were cities on Katina, Kew, Titania of all places, small planet in Stygian, Dan'jas, Krazoa…she'd slowly discovered that these Wraiths weren't just in Lylat, they were everywhere. She'd hardly been able to bring herself to believe how large their organization really was. She'd so far whittled away at them little by little, killing whichever she could find, however a thought lingered in the back of the vixen's mind as she turned her sights to a small photo…

It was an old, worn out picture of her, Fox, Falco, and a familiar pink furred feline, while Slippy stood in the background fidgeting with some gadget or other, and Peppy standing behind Fox with a bit of a prideful smile at the young fox. Her attention stayed on the pink furred feline that seemed to be in a bit of an argument with Falco, thought the blue vixen couldn't really recall what had started it that time. She thought deeply about how the feline was alive, and one of the assassins. She doubted however that her pink furred friend had anything to do with Fox's death, she even doubted that Katt knew anything about it so far. It was as she stood there that the vixen sighed. She made certain to allow herself the notion of killing the feline, but, as she thought to herself she reminded herself that Katt was her best friend, her only female friend, in Lylat. She understood that Katt wouldn't recognize her in her current state, after all no animal would; but, her looks had to change is she were to hide from Andrew and his men for all this time.

The vixen shuddered at the thought of what her fate would have been had they ever captured her; it wasn't long after she'd run away to Sauria that she heard that Panther was sending out to find her. He'd always tried to put himself off as a calm, suave individual…and she'd nearly fallen for it on several occasions, had a small notion in the back of her mind warned her to steer clear of the panther. She often wondered what Fox would have thought knowing that Panther had made several passes at her not long after she'd joined Star Fox. The vixen closed her eyes and smiled; in her mind she could see her infuriated leader pummeling the feline into a bloody gelatinous mound. Unfortunately her thoughts of the cat brought back memories of the first night after she'd met him; she knew the nightmare was a sign, a warning from her own Telepathic abilities. In the dream the black furred feline forced himself onto her. Kursed shook her head, she could still feel his breath on her face. The dream had been so vivid and real, that she could have sworn she'd felt every moment of it those years ago, and despite how much she screamed at herself to wake up in the dream, she couldn't. It was the first thing in her life that had actually frightened her, far beyond anything she'd ever experienced on her home planet, where predators were massive lumbering carnivores.

It struck her as strange that she could not find a way to stop thinking about it now that she had brought it up to herself; how one thought can germinate within the mind and give birth to such nightmares…it was as times like this that she reminded herself to keep her scythe nearby. Oddly, the only thing she could think about at the time was how close she imagined Panther was to her, and wether or not he was aware of just how badly she'd like to remove several parts of his anatomy…she doubted, however, that behind all the roses and false courtesies he was really that smart. The white furred vixen stood with a stretch and moved to the window throwing open the blinds, only to narrowly dodge what appeared to be a small metal spike that lodged itself into the table a short distance behind her. She looked out the window in amazement, the Wraith that stood on the rooftop a bit shy of a hundred yards away was massive, but, there was no way he could have been able to throw a projectile so far with the type of force that could pierce through a window without the means of even making it crack. It was meant to be a lethal shot, it was at head level, and she could practically feel it tear a small gash along the left side of her muzzle…

Kursed quickly rolled behind the small love seat that the room passed off as a proper sofa, pressing her paw against the stinging wound on her face before looking to the small trace of blood that it left in her palm. If she was lucky it wouldn't scar, but, she doubted she really was that lucky as she went for her gear, quickly putting her outfit on before picking up her scythe and heading to the elevator where she moved to the rooftop. The vixen expected to see the large animal, only to realize the only thing in her view was Sol rising over the distant hills. However, as she looked around something struck the ground pinning the low hanging cloth of her suit to the rooftop. She managed to roll out of the way just as three more met the spot where she'd been standing. They were fairly large spikes, wide enough to make a bullet like hole in whatever they hit, and long enough to pierce vital organs if they managed to hit you. She growled furiously, it had cost her some money to have her outfit repaired when that character on Katina just a bit over six months ago had ruined it….

"At least the last three I fought had the guts to come out from hiding!" She shouted.

There was a light chuckle as a large animal in a white cloak seemed to appear off to her left near the edge of the building…

"Funny…" He said, "Cuz if I wanted any of those shots to kill you, it would have been the on in your room."

"So what then…" She replied not bothering to reach for her scythe, "…you just intend to sit there and stare at me chest all day?"

The huge animal let out a booming laugh, "Don't flatter yourself Sweetheart." He said, "I just have a hard time believing that someone that looks like you really managed to take down 21 by yourself. She was one of the best fighters I've ever seen."

Kursed remembered the Lynx he was speaking of, "Hmph…If you says so." She scoffed.

"So why not tell me why it is you're doing this?" The large assassin asked, "Maybe you'll walk away from here alive."

Kursed sighed, "And maybe you should tell your little friend behind me to back off before she gets herself hurt." She replied giving the second much smaller assassin that had silently appeared behind her a glare from over her shoulder.

"Back off Six…" The large one demanded.

As soon as the slightly shorter one joined him by his side, Kursed sighed angrily, "What do you people care about my reasoning?" She said looking to the shorter animal, "I figured your little family would start sending you people in numbers though. Good call."

The larger animal quickly threw up his arm causing the familiar sound a powerful burst of hydraulic pressure releasing, Kursed's movements didn't even seem to really happen as the small spike seemed to collide with the blade of the scythe that hung just over her shoulder. It was a split second too late however, for her to realize that the shot was a simple decoy to throw her off while he lunged in at her. The massive animal's fist slammed into the ground beneath them, causing a massive indentation where his fist landed in the rooftop. As the vixen rolled out of the way, she felt as through the entire rooftop would cave in if he were to hit it again, however, before she could react to the attack he shot back at her again. This time with his left leg, which the vixen quickly stopped with her own paws. The impact of even his kick sent her several feet into the air and made her arms go numb from the shock. Twisting her body in mid-flight Kursed flipped forward launching her scythe in his direction, this time causing him to lunge out of the way, barely managing to avoid the lethal attack which slashed through a small portion of his hood showing her the deep red furred ear of a fox. As she landed the animal rushed at her again, only to note a slight flick of her wrist causing the weapon that was far behind him to graze his right arm before it's curved blade lodged itself into the rooftop behind her, before the feet of the shorter assassin. Kursed sighed as she noticed a metallic gleam coming from the torn fabric of the large fox's sleeve…

"Hah…" She scoffed, "…so that's why you punch so damn hard." She said with a deep breath, "Neural Links."

Creed quickly reached to his shoulders, tearing away his sleeves, yet leaving his gloves in tact…

"I guess I should make this a fair fight then." Kursed smiled causing her paws to burst into light blue flames that scaled up her forearms a slight length, causing the short assassin to gaps stepping back away from the scythe.

Kursed rolled her neck before quickly forcing it to one side resulting in a small series of loud cracks. Creed didn't seem to care much at all as he shot toward her; Kursed was already impressed that such a large animal could move so fast, that added to the threat of his metal arms, so far made him the single most dangerous animal she'd ever fought. She was forced to slide on her knees dropping her upper body across her calves, to maneuver out of the path of a lariat that would have most likely decapitated her completely. She managed to very quickly swing about, in time to block the kick that was aimed at her chest as the large animal pivoted on his right foot throwing his left with a force that lifted the vixen back off her knees and onto her feet, sliding her across the gravel rooftop before she finally came to a stop a bit less than a foot from the ledge. She looked to Creed with a grin only to see the animal surprisingly lunge back at her. She was stunned, so much that she nearly missed her opportunity to leap over him nearly causing the animal to fall from the rooftop. She looked to her paws then to his leg; being touched by this attack, even for a moment his leg should have been completely paralyzed. It wasn't until he turned that she noticed it, there was a short, but, obvious difference in the reaction time between his right and left leg. It explained why exactly her paws practically went numb when the kick hit, his left leg was also a Link. She shook her sore paws for a moment before Creed shot back at her this time as he threw a punch the vixen leaped into a forward flip over his head, slapping each shoulder with a paw each. When Kursed landed opposite of him she didn't bother turning around, she'd made contact with skin that time. The white furred vixen looked over her should only to see Creed standing there, both arms completely limp…

"What the fuck did you do to me?" He asked in a panicked voice.

Kursed took a moment to catch her breath, shaking the flames from her paws, "It's a little trick I developed about three years ago." She said, "Using Telepathy on a slightly higher plain. I found out that I can temporarily paralyze the synapses that associate to your higher motor functions……" She chuckled wrenching her scythe from the rooftop of the building, "…and without those arms, you're pretty much worthless."

Creed simply stood by waiting for the vixen to approach him; when she did, she leaned that he was much faster than she she'd given him credit for. His leg stuck her ribs, though unfortunately for him, as the pale furred vixen folded over his shin, her paw slapped the knee of his other leg, causing him to fall to the ground before she rolled across the rooftop cradling her ribs. She'd never imagined being hit by a Neural Link would hurt so much, she was certain that a rib was broken if now cracked. She cried out in pain as she spit up a small pool of blood. Creed was amazed to find the vixen fighting her way back to her feet, for a female he'd never imagined she would keep going after such a shot. However as she stepped forward she found Katt standing there. The vixen couldn't help but to scan her thoughts, she was fully aware of who the vixen was now, and worst of all she was willing to defend the fallen assassin…with her life if necessary…

"Move…" The vixen demanded.

Katt simply held out her arms, "No. If you want to kill him then kill me first."

"Katt I'm serious…" The vixen shouted, "Get out of the way!" She repeated this time with her weapon aimed at the feline's face.

Katt had never been so afraid in all her life, to think that Krystal would even consider killing her was far beyond reason. As the white furred bounty hunter reared back her weapon, Katt tightly closed her eyes, if she was going to die she didn't want to see it coming. However, instead she felt nothing and opened her eyes to see the weapon frozen a mere inch or so from her face. The vixen was visibly shaking, whether this was due to the pain in her ribs or something else she wasn't sure……

"Why do you have to be one of them?" The vixen whispered.

Katt stepped forward, "What are you talking about?" She asked.

The vixen simply turned away, "Just stay out of my way Katt. I've lost enough friends in one lifetime." She said limping back through the door that led into the building.

Katt looked to the place the vixen had occupied, and back to Creed. She couldn't believe the vixen was alive. She also had no idea how she was going to explain to Reiko that she and Creed had failed; but, nonetheless she called for help, and was forced to wait for the back up to arrive to get Creed. By this time they had found the Kursed had already left…

**********

**The Next day……**

**Prantella……**

**********

Kursed slowly staggered through the town; there was little she could do about her ribs, and as expected none of the townsfolk seemed to pay her any mind, though she suspected this was because her scythe was drawn, and she was clearly in a foul mood. The little doctor's office was no different now than the last time she'd been here; there was no fear coming from the building either, just a simple calm, even as her scythe ripped through the door to the place…

"I believe miss that would be two doors you owe me." The panda sitting at a small table said, "If you are here to kill me have your way with me. I can assure you however that I have no intentions of telling you where to find them."

Kursed growled, "I'm……" She paused hissing in pain, "Not here for information. One of your buddies…"

The doctor sighed, "I see…" He said, "And why is it you would come to me instead of a normal doctor?"

She leaned against the wall to relieve some pressure from her side, "Last time I was in a hospital……doctors were paid off by some guys that didn't like me too much. I nearly died."

"And why trust me?" He asked with a clear smile.

Kursed sighed, "Because……you're an honest person. Despite having connections with those murderers. For some reason you're still the most honest person I've met in over three years…you gave me information even though it led to the deaths of so many people. Because you……are incapable of lying."

The panda chuckled, "You catch on rather quickly…" He replied, "…you are correct; I cannot lie. I am mentally incapable. I could not explain to you why, I am a doctor no a shrink…" He said standing and approaching her, "And I took an oath long ago, to help those in need of my skills. Now if you would please sit down."

The vixen did as the doctor told her, the whole time keeping her paws on her weapon; were he so much to as flinch in the wrong direction she'd cleave him in two. The doctor motioned for her to pull up her shirt, so that he could have easier access to her injury. Certain that an animal of his age had no horrible ideas in mind, she did as she was told allowing the animal to feel about her ribcage. It was odd to her that he kept his eyes closed…

"So…" Kursed hissed, "…how'd you start loosing your eyesight?"

The panda sighed, "I suppose old age has played it's part, but, it is due to a rare type of tumor in my head that allows me to read minds, and at the same time it's been robbing me of my eyesight for years." He replied, "To tell the truth, with all that I see in these days I often am glad that I will soon be incapable of seeing any of it."

The vixen flinched in a hiss of pain at the bear's touch, "I guess…at your age…death would be a sort of release from all the suffering."

The doctor stepped away gathering some supplies before going back to the blue furred animal's injury, "I'll take it from these cracked ribs that you've met Creed." He said as he began to apply something to her side that burned her skin, "He had a habit of going for the ribs; with his arms it's easy to make an injury like this, makes it difficult to carry a fight on when breathing feels constricted." He said, "You know, you and the Wraiths have more in common than you may want to believe."

The vixen sighed, "You know Katt?"

"Hmm…" The doctor said, "The pink one? Not personally, enough to know that she misses the one's she called family."

The vixen let out a depressed sigh, "You seem to understand her well." The panda said as he began to apply a bandage to the vixen's ribs.

"She and I were friends once…" Kursed replied, "I guess we're enemies now."

The doctor actually stopped his progress to laugh, the action making the vixen glare angrily at him, "I am sorry. It's just that you young people try to label everything so clearly; friend, enemy, good, evil…up, down. Everything is the same if only you look at it from another point of view."

Kursed scoffed causing her ribs to give her a sharp jolt of pain, "You're out of your mind."

"Am I?" Zang asked, "Look at it this way. There is never a person in all the galaxy that does things because he knows they are wrong, no. They do the things that we consider evil because, to that person at least, these acts seem right…and hence our good clashes with that man's evil…his wrong is our right and vice versa…" He said as he continued to wrap her ribs, "Same goes for friendship; just because you share a difference in opinion, you consider someone else an enemy when you've never even gotten to know them…"

Kursed scoffed, "What about Up and Down?"

The doctor chuckled as he finished his work, "Well……think about it. To one standing on his head, your up is his down, his down your up."

"That doesn't make any sense." The vixen said.

Again the panda chuckled, "Well than think of it this way. Your concept is valid no matter where you are right? If that was the principal to everything, then consider space. There is no up or down, no right or left…just……space. How often can you honestly say that you've stopped, and looked at life through the eyes of your enemy?"

The vixen stood up, "I don't have a need for your philosophies doctor." She said, "But thank you for your services."

The panda sighed, "You are welcome." He said handing her a small tin of some kind, "This will help the healing process. Just remember, the fool that dies fighting, is the fool that forgot to live."

The vixen sighed, "More philosophies doctor?"

The panda chuckled lightly, "No. No more philosophies consider that last one advice…from one that's lived it."

"Right." The vixen huffed as she headed out the door.

The panda sighed, "You'll never find peace if you keep looking for war Kursed…just more heartache."

Kursed sighed as she decided to ignore the old panda, "Kursed…" He called stopping her, "I was wondering if I might be able to…acquire your employ."

The vixen sighed deeply as she rested her forehead on her arm which she lay against the wall next to the door, "It won't be cheap." The vixen replied, "I spent everything I had hunting the assassins. I barely have enough money to pay you for this…"

The doctor chuckled, "My dear little vixen. If I had wanted monetary gain, I never would have become a physician. I do this because I love what I do…helping sick people. However, I still cannot do these things for free." He said, "Agree to do this for me, and I will pay your price, and drop my normal fee for your treatment."

"What's the job?" She asked.

Zang sighed, "There was a recent riot on Kew, near the University of Advanced Astrological Physics. You have heard of it I take it?"

Kursed did not look away from the door, "One of my old friends once taught a course there." She said, "Second most acclaimed university in Lylat."

"My only living relative, my young niece has been attending a number of classes there…"

Kursed thought to herself for a moment, "You should be proud; that school doesn't just accept anyone."

"I am…" Zang replied, "…however…"

"You're worried because you haven't heard from her?" The vixen asked.

Zang slowly moved to her placing a small photo in her paw, "She is the only family I have. My niece, Lin. She is a bit strong willed but, I want you to take her somewhere safe for me."

"You don't want her to come here?" Kursed asked.

Zang sighed as he walked away, "No. I want her somewhere safe, and this place is far from safe. Andrew and his men are constantly searching for any members of the Resistance. If this locations is discovered, he will not bother to learn whether or not we are members…he will kill every man, woman, and child here. No mercy, no thoughts, just death." He sighed, "Just give her that photo…she will understand."

"And if she doesn't want to come? Or can't?"

The panda sighed, "Regardless of her condition…I still want to know. Dead or alive."

Kursed looked to the photo she now held; it was torn, leaving someone out of the small picture, there were clearly three or more in the photo, as Zang himself, and a younger, female panda was hugging him, she had the normal markings, though her hair was a bit longer than most pandas the vixen had seen before. Zang turned to say something else, only to find that the vixen had very silently left the building already. Kursed closed her eyes and sighed as the lift carried her to upper city; she wasn't even certain why she was helping him, but, something about the feeling she got from the old panda told her that he was more friend than enemy…the very same feeling she got about Zig. She understood his feelings, he simply wanted to protect those close to him, however, she was sure that there was something the old man wasn't really telling her about his niece Lin. As angry as she'd been recently, the vixen half hoped someone would try attacking her on her way to her ship; maybe the scythe scared most of them off or something…either way about it, no matter how she felt it would be nice to deal with normal animals for a short while……

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**Kursed's Ship **

**Later that night**

**********

Late night, the vixen found herself fearing another attempt at sleep; hunting a group of assassins as well known as the Wraiths was beginning to have an effect on her mind. She woke up now, instead of to nightmares, to the feeling and thought that one of them were on the ship simply waiting for her to wonder into the halls where the animal would strike and leave her to die. She wondered why it was her mind plagued her with such thoughts, she was certain she was doing the right thing, and yet every time she thought about all the animals she'd killed thus far; it brought an uneasy feeling to her gut. What if……by some small chance, the Wraiths weren't behind her friends' deaths? Did that mean she was killing animals that didn't deserve to die? It was moments like this that she usually listened to what her heart told her, but, her heart was scarred. There was no clear why to tell what she should do when her heart, and her mind were both confused about where to go from here. She was aware that there was no turning back after the war she'd started…but…if she could get Katt alone, she was certain she could get some answers……

Finding sleep an impossibility, the white furred animal found herself sitting in the kitchen of her small ship. The coffee scarcely managed to tide her over, but, sheer will, along with the constant fear of waking in the afterlife kept her awake. It would be a long flight to Kew, a flight she was beginning to think would last forever. Looking into the nexus of space through the port window over her shoulder, the vixen let out a sigh….

"When did living get so complicated?" She sighed before going back to her thoughts.


	5. Chapter 5

**Author Notes: **_Well this has so far been a good week for me. I'm working on that last paragraph of a Shattered Hopes chapter, finished one for Second Chances, actually got something out for Tails's Luck 2, and now chapter five of this one. Well hope you all enjoy the fic and the chapter. Have a nice one..._

_The Footsteps in the Darkness ~ SkullFox_

_Frag the weak, hurdle the dead ~ Mykll

* * *

  
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**Chapter 5:** One's sin is another's burden……

The pale furred vixen shook her head of the cobwebs that came from her sleep; she hated it when she dozed off in the kitchen of her ship. This time she found herself face down on the table she'd been sitting at, with a foul taste in her mouth and a familiar smell bothering her nose. She slowly stretched her back as she arched her head back over the headrest of her chair looking out a window behind her. The window offered her a broad scope of a small, closed off hanger that sat around her ship…and with that notion in mind she pulled herself upright……

"I hate Kew." She sighed.

Her mind was drawn back, she had spent so much time in this city as a bounty hunter; it seemed like the place itself was nothing but a pestilent cesspool of sin, and crime. It was here that she'd contracted most of her higher paying jobs; it was also the very first place she'd ever run into what she considered nothing but the decay of modern society, rapists. They were one of the majorities of scum that used this once fair city as stalking grounds, and now that Andrew declared this place to the Venomian Empire, it seemed to only worsen. Rape, murder, drugs, crime itself seemed to run Kew now, and the police seemed to just give up once the local gangs went out of control. In the three years she'd been Kursed now, the internal social order of the city itself, if it ever had one, crumbled down around the citizens' ears. She wondered if this place could ever find a means by which to become civil but, at the moment she could care less. After a shower and a change of clothing, the vixen made her way to the kitchen for a cup of coffee. Here it was better to not go about in her current attire; a dark gray tank top, with a slightly tight fitting pair of jeans, and a familiar short sleeved green flight jacket seemed enough for this place, aside from the pair of fingerless black gloves she donned. Kursed paused as her nose warned her of a familiar smell emanating from the jacket she wore. The old denim jacket seemed to be Fox's pride, along with a pair of sunglasses that she pulled from the pocket of the thing. Placing the dark shades over her eyes, the vixen looked about a bit. Even thought it was scorched here and there, and one of the arms of the shades was partially melted, the two objects made her feel closer to her old captain. The coat had been Fox's treasure as long as she knew him, and the glasses had been a gag gift from Peppy, a shot at how much he looked like his father James. She often wondered what Fox would think of her if he'd managed to see her dressed the way she was. He'd declared before that he liked strong women, though she was certain that she was never meant to hear that particular conversation with Peppy and Falco…

She sighed looking to her paw, "I'm strong now Fox. I just wish you were here to see me."

The vixen cleared her throat before picking up her weapon, and heading out the bay doors of the ship. As she stepped out into the hanger, she noted that there weren't as many ships as usual in port, though she really didn't care. She could tell by looking outside the old hanger that the place still carried the sickly red-orange color of a dying sunset, thanks to the planet's atmosphere. It was as she stood there that Kursed noticed a slightly older, yet well built ram approaching her. He was of average height, maybe a bit taller, with thick brown fur, and short black hair; pair of horns curled back around his tiny ears in a small spiral, his deep set brown eyes were focused on the vixen. His intentions were clear as he carried a large tool chest in one hand. In Lylat in general this was a standard occupation; freelance mechanics practically lived in the star ports, waiting for a ship owner that needed cheap repairs done…

"You look fairly competent." Kursed said as he approached her.

The ram curled his lip in distaste, "Gee thanks." He half mumbled, "While we're being so civil. Can I help you? I hope."

Kursed chuckled, he was good, and he even managed to keep his cool, sort of, "Some problems with the Geosynch, port side stabilizer is a bit off for some reason, and I don't know why, but, it seems a bit choppy on atmospheric entry."

The animal sighed setting his tools down for a moment, "That could take a while." He said folding his arms across his chest, "Can't promise it'll be cheap either." He grinned, "But, for Kursed, I seriously doubt that'll be a problem."

With a sigh the vixen reached to her back pocket handing the ram the photo that Zang had given her…

"You haven't seen this girl have you?"

The animal studied the photo for a moment, "Phew. Sweet little thing; wouldn't wanna be in her shoes in this city that's for damn sure." He said passing the photo back, "Wish I could say I had, but, you know how it is. With all the bodies coming and going through here, I'm surprised I remember any faces at all. Know why she'd come to this circle of hell in the first place?"

"Yeah, the Physics Academy."

The old goat chuckled, "I'd start there then. Just be careful…" He said, "I know you're Kursed and all; but, the Emperor's men have been in that area looking for candidates to replace some of the scientists that he recently lost, or killed, or whatever the hell happened to 'em. Least that's what I heard. Some of the other shit I heard 'bout why they're here just ain't right."

Kursed thought for a moment, "What else have you heard?"

The animal went to looking over the vixen's ship, "Well…as I'm guessing you already know, Star Wolf and some others were appointed by the Emperor as some high ranked officials in his army." He said looking over her ship's engines, "Word has it, that every so often Wolf's little family decides to go out looking for a few pretty things to……" The animal froze as he was about to use some language that he wasn't sure the vixen would appreciate, "……well keep them company at night. Not necessarily of their own free will. And with a looker like the little panda, she'd better watch out for Caruso…the man's sick in the head."

Kursed smiled, this animal was more than a good mechanic…he was a profitable little information hub himself. Though he didn't realize it, the vixen slipped a few credits into his tool box for the information before leaving the hanger and looking out into the city. To this city, sirens were an eternal ambiance, the voice of the city crying out in pain at all hours of the day. The city seemed worse off than she ever seemed to recall; there was the constantly smell of bloodshed and gunpowder, even despite the heavy rain that fell. The rain felt as though it fell from the heavens, as if the city itself tried to wash away the filth that had come to line its streets. The air was thick with pollution and even the buildings were covered with horrible graffiti whose paint ran like blood against the falling rains. She imagined that at one point, this place would have been considered beautiful…but, maybe she was wrong, maybe this was simply the nature of this city….

"Whoa whoa whoa…" The mechanic yelled from behind her rushing over, "Take a jacket or something, you'll catch your death out there."

Kursed chuckled, even here you could find at least one animal that cared, however she sighed walking out into the rain, "Thanks for the concern…" She said, "…but, I don't get sick."

The ram simply watched her as she crossed the street outside the hanger, only to see a large truck fly by blocking his view from her. He was surprised to see that she was gone as soon as the vehicle was no longer there; he supposed most animals would have been shocked at how quickly she'd vanished from sight, but, in his many years he'd seen far stranger things happen and right now his only real concern was getting his job done before the vixen could return. Kursed in the mean time decided to stick to the main roads, she normally would have gone through the alleyways, but here alleys were a festering roach's den full of slime and filth; and though she had no fear for the rapists and muggers that called the alleys home…she didn't want to draw attention to herself just yet, not while knowing that any number of Andrew's Generals were here in the city, she was sure she wanted to keep a low profile. She'd met one member of these generals already; Panther Caruso. Her nightmares of the silver tongued feline still haunted her, and the thought of him being the one of the Generals supposedly here.

The vixen shuttered at the thought of running into the animal. She'd done so just short of a year ago on Corneria even then his presence made her skin crawl. Willing to try anything she could to wipe the image of the filthy animal. It took some time of trying her hardest to count the falling raindrops to get the panther off her mind, before she found herself perched atop a building across the street from the Academy. Here she sat under a small awning clearly made for some homeless animal, which seemed to have at least stepped out for the moment. Her mind wandered while she scoped out the academy grounds using her binoculars, while fishing blindly for a French fry from a small bag that sat in front of her. It had been a very long time since she'd eaten a hamburger, in fact not since Fox had gotten her to try one shortly after she'd joined Star Fox. She didn't want to admit it, but, she'd had a craving for one for some time now, and now that she actually had one in front of her was seriously thinking about buying one on her way off of the planet. Right now however she simply waited, she wanted to finish her job but, in the end there was something else bothering her. She'd been in this position and so far the only heads on the academy grounds she'd noticed were all Venomian troops…

"I don't like it…" She told herself taking the device from in front of her face and eating another fry, "…no students going in or coming out. You can't tell me they don't have families to visit."

With a sigh she removed the wrapper from the sandwich she'd bought at a small stand on her way there. It wasn't until she was several blocks from the hanger that she realized that she'd not eaten in quite some time. She closed her eyes as she took her fist bite; savoring the small meal as though it were her first true meal in years. Something however captured her attention, causing her to reach for her specs again. While taking another bite of her sandwich, she scoped the area one more time, she'd have used her telepathy to search the area but, with all the crime and pain in the city it would have been nearly impossible to zero in on anything in particular. It was as she scoped the area however, that she caught something through the scope of her binoculars, and pressed a small button to zoom in on the scene. A young male fox rushed out into the academy grounds, which was situated in a circular area surrounded by the ring shaped building arrangement of the school. He didn't make it far however before his knee buckled under him causing him to fall to both knees, as a spray of blood shot from his left leg. He attempted to crawl away on his paws and knees, before a wolf in Venomian uniform flipped him over with his foot. The animal was clearly begging for his life before a silent blast of the soldier's weapon sent the vulpine into a small fit of convulsive fits. Kursed looked away as the wolf took him by the ankle dragging him back toward the doors of the main office building. This was more than she wanted to see…

"ROB…" She said turning her attention to the communicator on her wrist, "Run that last security protocol that Slippy gave you. I need you to gather video feeds on the old academy just north of my position."

There was a momentary pause before the robot's voice came back, "Security protocol Omega accessed. Scan will take approximately five point seven minutes."

Kursed sighed, "I can wait…just make it fast."

Though it took a bit longer than five minutes, the vixen was eventually regaled with the bot's voice again, "Files found and video feeds tapped. Rerouting primary video feeds to your communicator."

Kursed sighed, "Thanks ROB……make sure the ship's systems are running at full." She said, "I have this sneaking suspicion that I'm gonna be moving fast when I get this Lin kid out of here."

The vixen then flipped open the top of her small communicator, and pressed a few buttons causing a small panel of different video feeds to be listed. She touched one of the small images bringing up an image of what looked like a ruined professor's office of some kind, there was really nothing much out of place except the mess of books and papers that scattered the floors, she pressed another to bring up another image, this one however was something she really didn't want to see. A familiar black furred feline moved across a hall, he was only there for a moment but, it was a short enough time for her to know that it was the former member of Star Wolf, the animal that had haunted the deepest fears of her mind. The vixen didn't want to see him, because of the fact that the sheer thought of him made the memories come back, but, she simply did as her mind told her was right and tapped her claw against the next icon on her touch screen. This one overlaid another place entirely; it looked like one of the academy classrooms…filled with row after row of seats fashioned in a half circle in a steady incline down to the bottom where the professor of the class would hold his lectures. At the base of the room however stood an animal she was not familiar with; a slightly short Lynx woman, with dark red fur covered in black stripes…she differed slightly from a girl Fox had introduced her to long ago named Miyu, whom she was certain was taller than this woman, and had slightly shorter hair…

The vixen went over the different video feeds from the school until she managed to find three different rooms full of students. She feared what may have become of the rest of the students. She sighed however, she knew what it was she had to do; she had to get in there and get the students out of the building before anything could happen to them. However, as the rains began to fall again Kursed looked out over the building…

"What would you do here Fox?" She sighed.

Asking herself this, Kursed's eyes locked onto a tower that rose from the center of the roof of the main building. It was a high point, allowing a good view of the place, as well as a possible entrance to the building below. If she had to she could use the small tower to get to just about any of the other buildings, using the rooftops. Chances were that the Venomians inside were trying their hardest to keep a low profile, but, Kursed was also certain that they wouldn't care about public eye for putting a bullet or two in her head. She took a moment to finish her food, and licked her claws clean before picking up her weapon. It wouldn't be easy to get through this unnoticed, in fact chances were that she'd not get out of this unharmed but, at the moment something picked at the back of her mind. What would Fox do? The answer was simple; regardless of the cost, he'd stop at nothing to save every animal he could…and that was exactly what she was going to do……

**********

Kursed found herself crouched behind the slightly tall wooden rail that kept any in the tower from falling over and down the roof. She peeked over the rail down over the roof, only to see a Venomian soldier point a light up toward the roof. She'd almost slipped, when making the jump to the roof of the academy from the tree in the courtyard, rousing the ape's suspicions. She leaned back exhaling a bit before something caught her attention. It was definitely the sense of a complicated mind very close to her, and yet, oddly she couldn't sense anything else from whoever it was…it was as if this animal's mind itself was blocking her out…

"That was careless." A light raspy voice said from behind her.

The vixen quickly turned around, only to find that behind her stood a familiar looking animal dressed in white cloak. The very same one that had left her standing nude on a rooftop just over six months ago…

"You…" She growled.

The animal held up a gloved paw, "Stop…they find us up here. We're both dead and so are the students inside."

The vixen gritted her teeth, he was right; too much commotion and the Venomians inside would definitely know they were there…

"Believe it or not we're here for the same thing." He said with a light cough.

The vixen sighed looking over the rail, "Fine. There's a classroom……"

"West wing, east wing, and a big group of the students in the gymnasium." The assassin interrupted her, "Exactly 35 guards not counting Caruso and Verra. Six guards in the quad just below us, and two at each building's entrance." He said, "I was waiting for a friend to show up, but, seeing as how you kicked Creed's ass I guess you'll do for now."

Kursed gave him a questioning glare…

"Fine then…don't believe me…" He said leaping up onto the rain before coughing into his fist, "…Lin's in the East Wing…at the very least get her out of here. Apparently you can't put anyone's safety above your petty ideals."

Before the vixen could do anything to stop him she found that he'd already vanished from sight. Swore under her breath at her misfortune, her chance at retribution for leaving her naked in the middle of a city that night and it happened to be in a position in which she couldn't even attack him. Some of the things he said though, made her wonder what Fox would think at the moment about what she'd been doing. Like anyone else he could be a vengeful person, but he once told her that he didn't like seeing her angry as she'd gotten pretty heated over something Falco had mentioned toward her one day. She remembered that being the first time he'd ever actually touched her……

**********

**Flashback…**

**********

_It was only about two months after she'd joined the team when it happened, the first time she'd actually been approached by Falco. He made his standpoint clear though, telling her that he knew she was there to take Fox away from the team, using words and terms that she didn't fully understand at the time, and others that made her blood boil. The bird smirked at her while leaving the vixen standing in the kitchen, with a stream of angry tears in her eyes, while biting her lip to keep from saying anything. It was as she stood there like that, that Fox had entered the room. She wasn't sure why he'd reacted to seeing her so angry the way he did, she was looking at the floor when he'd entered the room. Her face must have felt like it was on fire when she felt his paw on her cheek…she slowly drew her face up to meet his gaze as his thumb wiped away a tear…_

"_Don't let him get to you." He said with a light smile, "Anger really doesn't suit you."_

**********

Kursed shook her head realizing that she was a bit misty eyed from the reminiscent thoughts of her friends again. She silently cursed at the assassin that left her standing there, for bringing back such memories. Her mission right now however was much more important than her own feelings. Even though she'd come here to do a job, she felt an unnatural need to help all the animals kept inside. Her main problem was getting into the building without being noticed right now. With her weapon there was little to no way of getting in through the ventilation system…she could just sneak in but that would run the risk of a fight breaking out and giving the soldiers a chance to start killing the students. She thought about leaving her scythe behind, but to be honest she felt naked without it; there was little she could think of to actually get into the building. She sighed as she found herself with little to no recourse toward doing something she'd only had to do once before. She'd found some time ago that using her telepathy she could convince the minds around her that she was not actually there, her only problem was how long she could keep it up. When she'd first invented the technique she could only keep herself hidden for about two minutes before she nearly blacked out, erasing your image in so many minds all at once was anything but easy on the mind. There was one inevitable side effect however, within the first few seconds the stress on her mind would make her vision go, and her sight wouldn't be worth shit for a short time after she stopped the ability…  
The white furred vixen made her way to the roof of the main building of the East Wing, it was a much smaller building; only three stories, and with three exits like most of the other buildings, one back, one front, and one very small door on the roof that served as a service exit for roof maintenance. She figured that this was most likely her best possible course of insertion. The roof was rather wide and long however, giving her a scope of just how large this building really was. She sighed a bit as she recalled one small problem, no matter whether or not the Venomian soldiers couldn't see her, her footsteps were still perfectly audible. There was only one guard on the roof however, and he didn't look like the brightest thing on two legs. She reached for a small chunk of brick lying on the ground tossing it off across the way. The wolverine quickly shot to attention rushing across the rooftop toward the direction the object had impacted the roof. Kursed took the moment to get through the door and down into the building.

Kursed found that the building was very elaborately decorated, with red carpets on most of the floors, tapestries hanging from the walls, and photos of what she'd guessed were animals of importance. In checking the different dorms and classrooms of the building, the vixen simply pressed up against a wall to keep out of the way of a passing soldier or two if they happened by her. It was as she passed onto the second floor of the building that the vixen placed a paw on the side of her head; her vision was going a bit blurry, and she could feel a slight trickle of blood run down the front of her muzzle, which she quickly licked away. It was still however a bit of a distance down to the last floor where the students were being kept. She did however manage to suck it up, and quickly headed downstairs, to the final floor. A small congregation of soldiers informed her when she'd approached the proper room. The vixen however had a slight idea, if she waited for the assassin to make his move on the West Wing, she was certain that a number of the animals here would rush off to help keep the students. She was right, not too long after she came to the room the Lynx woman she'd seen on the video feeds stepped out…

"You four…" She said pointing to a small group of soldiers at the other end of the hall, "…get over to the West Wing. There's been some kind of disturbance, some of the men over there aren't responding to their radios." She said, "Find the cause and take him or her out."

The four soldiers stood at attention, "Yes General Verra." They said rushing off.

The Lynx turned and walked back into the room, Kursed following slightly behind her. The vixen was amazed to see the lax security in the room itself…there were only two animals other than her in the room at all that weren't students or professors. Kursed shook her head as she realized that there was no way she was going to hold out much longer this was her only real chance. She followed the Lynx down the incline to the middle of the room where the feline froze in place…

"Listen real close…" Kursed whispered in her ear making certain that the Lynx felt the blade of the weapon pressed against her throat, "…make one move, say one word that I don't tell you to, and you're dead."

As the lynx stood there the vixen faded into view to every eye in the room, the two guards instantly zeroed their weapons in on her, causing the lynx to hold up her paw, making them lower their weapons…

"Smart move." Kursed half growled trying her hardest not to show that she was half out of breath, "Now……you're gonna tell these guards to get down here and stand behind the desk."

Kursed knew she'd comply, she was far too worried about her own hide, and her mind was as weak as any she'd ever scanned…

Verra sighed nodding to the two soldiers, "Now what? You think you're going to get away with this?" The lynx chuckled, "The emperor will have your head by the end of the week."

Kursed sighed looking to the students, "Who's got something like a rope?"

A young male wolf stood up, "There's electrical cord all over the place. They used it to tie up Deric cuz he wouldn't shut the fuck up."

Kursed chuckled, "Good then get some and tie these two up."

Suddenly the lynx took a risk pulling the scythe away while turning to face the vixen behind her only to fall back with a shocked gasp. Kursed simply smiled as the lynx tripped over the bottom of the steps that lead up to the door of the room. The vixen's reputation among scum bags actually spread further than she'd thought. Seeing the fear in that animals' eyes brought a delectable smile to her face…

"You've heard of me." Kursed said, "I'm flattered…and somewhat disgusted at the same time." She chuckled laying her weapon across her shoulder, "Why are you people here torturing these students?"

The lynx glared at the vixen while she realized that her body seemed to refuse to move of its own free will, she was absolutely petrified. Kursed's reputation as the Angel of Death preceded her, never once had she ever brought a bounty in alive, and besides that, she'd built a reputation for herself in little more than three years. She'd never known that it would be this frightening to have her life standing on such a thin margin…

"This isn't like you…" Verra said, "You're a bounty hunter why are you here?"

Kursed chuckled while crouching down in front of her, "I'm no bounty hunter, I'm a mercenary…and at the moment you're just an obstacle between me and my job." She said with a sick grin, "I don't like obstacles."

The animal was clearly in a panic as she lunged forward slamming her head into the vixen's face, causing her to fall onto her backside. This moment wasn't used to free her own men, or go for a weapon, instead the lynx rushed up the stairs toward the door. She didn't care about anyone but herself, a point she displayed as she threw a young vixen to the ground on her way up the stairs. Just as the animal reached the door however, something struck the back of her neck, pinning her to the wall. It wasn't a powerful hit but, it did hurt, and she turned only to find that Kursed's weapon was embedded in the wall next to her with its shaft holding her taught against a door that opened toward her. Kursed waited for the moment the lynx turned around to face her before she made a motion of her paw, causing her scythe to, as if of its own free will, dislodge itself from the wall and spin through the air returning to her grasp…

"Did you really think that after all those years of hunting criminals I didn't learn how to keep them from getting away?" The vixen asked making another motion of her paw causing the lynx to fly through the air stopping with her muzzle inches from the vixen's, "Why do you think they call me the Angel of Death? You can't escape Death's grasp……or mine."

Kursed chuckled as the animal began to writhe and squirm in her psionic grip, like a worm caught in the clutches of a bird. She screamed and yelled for help only to realize that she'd sent her men away as she was ordered to do. The vixen laughed again as she noticed the animal's limbs had gone limp, and took the moment to inspect her…

"Humph……fainted." She scoffed allowing the animal to fall to the ground, "I need to see a panda girl named Lin!" She called out over the class.

There was a hushed silence for a moment before a white paw reached up over the crowd, "Um……" A very light voice said, "I'm Lin."

The petite panda girl almost perfectly fit the image of the niece that was in Zang's photo; she was shorter than Kursed, if only by a few inches, and was much more feminine in the ways of her build. Like all the female students here, she wore a tan skirt that reached to her knees and a matching short sleeve shirt, her eyes were incredibly bright blue, and her hair was rather short, aside from other pandas that the vixen had seen this girl had one white ear however. She seemed to take her steps very shyly as she walked down toward the vixen who handed her the photo from her pocket…

"Your uncle Zang sent me." She said, "He wants me to get you someplace safe."

The black and white furred bear looked to the photo, "Uncle Zang? Father said that……"

"Never mind what was said…" Kursed sighed placing her weapon back to the holster on her back, "All of you…I'm getting you out of here too…"

A young female collie stepped down, "No you're not." She said, "You can take Lin……take her as far away as you can…but, if we leave the Emperor will just come after our families." She said looking at the ground, "I'd rather be a slave than watch my family die."

The vixen sighed, she could see into their young minds and hear their thoughts, they had no intentions of trying to stop her, but, they had no intentions of leaving either. This is what the Lylat system had come to; young animals giving up their civil freedom in order to protect their families. Kursed turned to see that the lynx had come around however…

"Good you're awake." She said, "Trust me when I say this…" She said, "If I hear that even one of these kids is hurt. You'll be the first one to see my shadow. Understand?" She said kneeling down causing the lynx to close her eyes as she rested her muzzle next to her ear, "Tell Andrew that Star Fox is still alive."

In an instant Kursed reached around Lin's waist and rushed toward the window of the room; using her head and shoulder to cover the panda's face as she leaped through the pane of glass. She rushed off into the city without looking back, there was little to no way she'd have convinced the others to come with her. She looked over her shoulder toward the academy, trying her hardest to comprehend what had happened. Every student in that room was willing to sacrifice themselves for the good of the one's they loved. It was no different than what she'd sworn to do in killing the Wraiths. It was as she stood in front of her ship that the vixen let the panda in her arms go and bent over placing her paws on her knees gasping for breath…

"No luck I take it?" A familiar voice asked from behind her.

Kursed still gasped for air, "They……won't leave……they're afraid for their families." She gasped, "…and what Andrew will do if they escaped."

Without warning the vixen spun swinging her scythe in a brutal upper swipe that could have easily rent the animal in two. However, as the blade passed in front of him, the assassin swung down and to the right, throwing the vixen to her back where she found the point of her own weapon at her throat…

"What are you waiting for?" She asked.

"I don't kill without a reason…" He said pulling a mass off dog tags from around his neck and dropping them so that their chains fell around the vixen's head, "…these are all the lives you ruined. All the innocent lives that you took. They should be weighing you down……" He said standing up and throwing the weapon to the ground, "…not me. I have enough burdens to bear."

The vixen leaped to her feet only to find that the animal had already left. She felt her neck for injuries but only found the string of tags that dangled from her slender neck. The vixen turned to Lin as she claimed her weapon with a sigh…

"Come on…" She said boarding the ship.

She'd been given a third chance, and failed again…she wondered if it was possible for her to beat this strange animal. However, it was as the small ship pulled away from the planet that she sat in her ship's kitchen, looking over the mess of tags that lay before her. Twenty three. Had she really killed that many? She wondered if they really were innocents, if the assassin that had spared her life when he could have taken it for these people was right. She was happy that the panda in her care was taking a shower at the time; the vixen couldn't handle the stress of not knowing. Her mind began to twist and wrench at itself in an attempt to think this through…but, in the end simply laid her head in her paws trying her hardest to forget…


	6. Chapter 6

**Author Notes: **_Well here's chapter 6, hope you all enjoy it. I'm running a bit ragged lately so It may still take a bit of time before i update any of my other fics. However, in the mean time i am going to be working on whatever i can to get myself back into the swing of things. Please enjoy the fic. And i'll make sure my next update is up as soon as possible...  
Till next time..._

_The Footsteps in the Darkness ~ SkullFox_

_Frag the Weak, Hurdle the dead ~ Mykll

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**Chapter 6:** Restless……

Waking from a night's sleep, if indeed she could consciously call three hours of exhausted napping sleep. It was the smell of fresh cooked foods that made the vixen slowly and groggily open her eyes; she rubbed the side of her neck, realizing that somehow she'd slept wrong giving her a pain in the side of her neck. Her fur was terribly matted with a smell of sweat. The nightmares had once again kept her awake through the night; she yawned a bit before swinging her legs over the side of her bed. The vixen stood up and started toward her door, she didn't care that she was wearing nothing but a sports bra and a pair of spandex shorts from her late night work out in the training room…after all there was only another female aboard and she was certain that she didn't really have anything the panda hadn't seen before. Still tired, the vixen slowly walked out of her room and headed down the hall, her head hurt, her eyes didn't want to open, and her muscles were still sore from the work out she'd had last night. The enchanting smell of a half decently cooked breakfast practically carried the animal down the hall however until she reached the kitchen. She found the young panda standing by the only table in the room where two small plates were served already. She was wearing some familiar looking jeans and a white tank top……

"Sorry for not asking…" She said shyly looking to her outfit, "…I never wear the same clothes for more than a day." She said, "It's sort of a compulsion."

Kursed's eyes were fixed however on the food on the table, "You……can cook?"

The panda laughed, "You can't?"

Kursed laughed as she sat down, "No I can. I just wouldn't suggest eating any of it."

Lin sat down across from the vixen, "I wanted to thank you…" She said, "Honestly I never thought I'd actually get a chance to meet you."

Kursed swallowed a large bite of sausage on her plate, "So……you know who I am already."

"Who doesn't?" Lin replied, "I've followed your career as soon as I heard about you."

Kursed rolled her eyes with a sigh of joy at the taste of the panda's cooking, "You're a really good cook." She sighed, "So why is it you'd follow a nobody's career? If you could call it that."

Lin scoffed, "Are you kidding? Look at me…" She said holding her arms out, "I'd give anything in the world to be like you."

"My life isn't a glamour show Lin." The vixen sighed laying down her fork, "If you knew half of what I've been through in my life you wouldn't be so quick to jump at the idea of being like me." She said, "Enough about me though. Where can I take you that's safe? You have any family?"

Lin sighed, "No. Mom and dad died a long time ago. Uncle Zang took care of me until I left for school."

"No boyfriends or anything?" The vixen asked.

Lin laughed, "Yeah right." She sighed, "Most guys don't even give me a second look." She said, "Can't I just stay here? What could be safer than living on this ship with you?"

Kursed sighed, "Sorry…" She said, "I can't do that."

The panda sighed looking to the table top……

"I know a safe place or two." Kursed said, "A place where you'll be safe, and out of Andrew's reach."

The panda simply remained silent, she'd expected something more from the vixen; she'd always seen Kursed as a hero of sorts…the kind of person that would never turn a person away. Now she saw that the vixen was quite the opposite. She clearly cared, and was very lonely, but, was hesitant to let anyone get close to her. Kursed finished her food and stood up, and after claiming a cup of coffee the vixen headed out of the room, leaving Lin to think to herself. It had been like this her entire life, she was always left alone, outcast. She constantly blamed herself for these sorts of things. Kursed found herself walking the halls after some only slightly needed work on her Arwing, she hardly saw the point. She never really flew the thing since becoming a bounty hunter. Nobody wanted a bounty hunter to do any kind of flight based missions. It was as she torqued a wrench a bit too hard however that a pain shot through her arm causing her to drop the weapon and cry out in pain, reaching for an injury she'd managed to conceal. She slowly made her way out of the docking bay, but, on her way through the halls she stopped before a young panda who stared at her intently…

"What is it Lin?" She asked.

The panda simply motioned to the vixen's paw, "You're bleeding all over the place."

Kursed looked to her arm to see that her paw, and arm were no longer white, rather a deep crimson that flowed from beneath her paw, which she lifted inspecting the cut on her shoulder…

"It's deeper than I thought."

She was surprised to find Lin closely inspecting the wound, "Do you have any alcohol around here?"

Kursed chuckled, "You're kidding right?"

The two found themselves in the kitchen again, where Kursed sat at the room's only table with a wet rag, tightly held against the cut to stop the bleeding. While Lin searched the rooms shelves for whatever alcohol she could use…

"Top shelf over the sink." Kursed pointed out.

"Vodka?" The panda said, "You know this'll burn like hell right?"

Kursed sighed, "Pain let's you know you're alive."

"Yeah so does a heart monitor." Lin chuckled, "but, you don't have to be bleeding to death in order to realize it."

As soon as she set the bottle down, the vixen took a healthy swig of the powerful liquor, while the panda pulled a chair beside her. Where she filled a small container with the liquid, soaking a curved needle in it. The panda sighed as she looked over the wound…

"You know you shouldn't drink malt liquor straight like that…" She said, "And don't worry. I know it was the Physics Academy but, the grounds have one of the best medical professors in all of Lylat."

Kursed scoffed, "You were studying to be a doctor?" She asked.

"Um hm…" The young panda mused, "Ever since I was told that was what my mother used to do. I never really got to know her that well…she died when I was really little."

Kursed looked to the table top, "Hmm…sorry."

The vixen suddenly slammed her palm on the table as she felt the needle pierce her flesh around the sensitive cut. The panda proved however that she was already quite skilled at this…

"Sorry…" Lin apologized, "…shaky paws." She scoffed, "I never would have guessed I'd be here at any point sewing up 'the' Kursed. I guess you could say meeting you has been a dream of mine since Uncle told me about you."

The vixen winced a bit at the pinch of the needle again, "Why is that?"

The panda chuckled dipping the needle in the alcohol again, "No…it's…it's stupid."

"No I wanna hear this." Kursed stopped her.

Lin started back at her task, "I……just wanted to meet a real life hero, which I had something in common with."

Kursed looked to the panda, "Common?"

"We're both females, and were both misunderstood by just about everyone we meet." She said, "Nobody at school ever really took me seriously, to any guy I was just a piece of meat; and I didn't really fit into any social category. I guess you could say I was an outcast."

Kursed lowered her head, "Being alone isn't so bad. Nobody there to hurt you, nobody for you to miss having around."

Lin sighed as she tied off the vixen's stitches, "You don't really sound like you believe that."

The vixen chuckled, "You'll see after staying this way for a while." She sighed standing up and heading for the door, "There are a few spare rooms here on the ship. I guess it wouldn't hurt any for me to have my own medic on board. Helps that you're a female too…I won't have to change any lifestyles."

The panda froze for a moment as she sat down the needle in her paw, "Wait so that means?"

Kursed sighed, "I guess. Just……don't make me regret this okay?"

Lin quickly jumped to her feet rushing at the vixen, which stopped her only a few inches away, "No hugs. Let's keep this professional…" She said keeping her paw on the panda's chest.

Lin chuckled backing off a bit, before extending a paw which the vixen shook, "What made you change your mind?" She asked.

Kursed sighed as she headed down the hall, "You remind me of an old friend."

"Where will we go?" Lin asked.

Kursed stopped for a moment, "I just attacked the Emperor's men." She pointed out, "They'll be looking for us. I have to lay low for a while…and there's only one planet around Lylat that I know he never had any interest in."

"What planet is that?"

Kursed chuckled, "Come to the bridge and I'll tell you about it."

**********

Lin sat by on the bridge as Kursed told her about Sauria and why it's unusually strong magnetic field made for an unwanted place by Andrew. The planet's unusual magnetic field actually caused most short and long range sub-space transmissions, to be lost or scrambled. For any troops on the planet this would actually mean some amount of trouble……and Andrew, like his late uncle, was a perfectionist. A faulty mode of communication between, him and his troops would only have caused him grief. In the long run, it wouldn't have been a good investment. Their conversations eventually led them back to the kitchen as Kursed had grown thirsty, but, as she got her drink they found a seat, and the vixen for some reason found herself reminiscing about her time with the Star Fox group…

"Wow…" Lin remarked as Kursed had just finished telling her how she'd met Fox, "He really saved your life? Did you ever kiss him?"

The vixen's face turned a bit red as she coughed into her fist, "What? No…" She sighed, "I guess there was a part of me that wanted to though…" The vixen looked deep into the clear glass of water before her.

Lin sighed, "Why didn't you?"

The vixen stood up and walked into the cooking area, pouring out her water and walking back to the table with the same bottle of vodka that had been used when she was being sewn up. Lin wore a worried expression as she watched the vixen pour a glass of the powerful liquor…

"I……I'm sorry…I didn't mean to pry." The panda said, "I…I just wanted to know more about you."

Kursed sighed taking a sharp drink from her glass, "Don't worry about it." She said, "And to answer your question. I guess I was always afraid to tell him." She said, "You see, his friend Katt told me that since his first real girlfriend died; Fox never really showed any sort of interest in another female. I think even now he still loves her……I……I could never compete with something like that."

Lin was at a loss for words, she'd never expected to know that her idol……was so depressed all the time. She wondered how the vixen coped with it; all the years of not knowing and regretting, just thinking of herself in the same situation made the panda worry a bit more as the vixen stood and walked to a small port window still with her glass in her paw. Kursed looked to her glass as she sat in a way leaving only her back to the panda still at her table, as a small drop fell into her glass disturbing the calm liquid, only to wipe a second tear from her face…

"_You said my smile made you happy…so I tried my hardest to stop crying…"_ She thought to herself looking at the ripples in her drink, _"What do I do now? When I have anything left to smile for?"_

**********

In a large, dark, hall a tall, slender animal stands peering out over a large city far below him. It was as he stood there that a single, rather attractive young vixen approached him; she wore a black military uniform, and her fur bright red accented by long black hair…

"Emperor…" She stated with a salute.

The animal chuckled fogging the glass before him, "Good day General Rose. You have news for me?" He asked.

"Yes, sir." She replied handing him a small folder, "The operation at the Kew Academy was……ruined, by this vixen."

The emperor sighed as he looked to a surveillance photo of Kursed with a young panda in her arms, "Hmm…Kursed again." He sighed, "I tried reasoning with her two years ago, and she spit my offer back in my face. This time she won't be quite so lucky." He said passing her the folder, "Any clue where she is now?"

"No, sir." Rose replied, "But……one of the others claims he knows where she may be headed. He also has some lovely information for you."

The well dressed ruler let out a pleased sigh, "Good…send him to the council chamber…and get your men ready."

The vixen saluted him, receiving the 'go ahead' to leave, and headed back down the halls. Leaving Lylat's new Emperor to contemplate his thoughts of the bounty hunter, and what he might do when she was delivered to him…

**********

Katt sat in her room, this time it was nothing more than a small chamber aboard a cruiser that the small group of assassins had boarded to get out of the general area. Knowing that Krystal and Kursed was the same person made her want to go to Reiko with the information, but, she knew the Coyote would not see it the same way she did. Reiko was constantly thinking, he was a strategist, and would clearly find a way of using the information to get the vixen out of his way. Katt feared what that would mean. The pink furred feline wiped a tear from her cheek as she looked onto a photo of herself standing with Fox and Krystal…she sort of chuckled a bit at the memory that went along with it. She hadn't known Fox had plans on asking Krystal for a date, and got pretty badly scolded for it when Fox found some time to confront her about it. She still found it amazing how quickly she'd developed a bond with the young vixen; she admitted that Krystal was a touch naive when she first came to Corneria, but, she was always so happy for someone that had lost her homeland. Looking back on those days Katt realized that she'd never had a female friend that she felt so close to. She wondered how Fox would have reacted knowing that she'd been a bit attracted to Krystal herself. It was as she sat there that there was a light knock on her cabin door. The feline slowly crept to the door with a blaster in her paw as she sighed…

"Who is it?" She asked.

There was a light chuckle, "It's just Eight you can calm down Katt."

The feline sighed unlocking her door and tossing the weapon to her bed; as she sat back down a young, pretty hare walked in. She was a touch taller than Katt even though she was nearly ten years younger than her, and had a nice body for her age. She had fur a shade or two lighter pink than Katt's, and though she was not of an athletic build at all, the young lapin was incredibly brilliant. Had it not been for her tech savvy mind in fact, the Wraiths would not be able to travel about as easily as they did. The young bunny was carrying two small trays of food when she noticed her friend looking at a familiar photo. Lucy sighed as she sat down beside the pink furred feline holding a dull silence…

Lucy cleared her throat as she slid a small tray into the feline's paws, "I found her Katt."

The feline's ears instantly stood on end, "Really?" She half shouted nearly dropping her food before sitting it on a small end table.

Lucy nodded, "Yup." She smiled, if only for a moment before it was replaced by a feint sigh.

"But?" Katt asked.

"It was over one of the Emperor's live com channels." She replied, "Apparently she decided to attack a few of Andrew's men…Verra was one of them. As soon as I found out about that I hacked the video feeds from the place she attacked……Seven was there too."

"Why did he run off like that in the first place?" Katt asked.

The hare sighed as she shook her head, "He didn't say. He never does." She smiled, "But he's the last person here you should worry about really. I'm worried about Krystal now…apparently they're sending Verra, and that freak Caruso after her."

Katt thought for a moment, she remembered Panther Caruso, worked with the animal once or twice when he was a member of the Katinan Air force, "Wait. Panther?" She asked, "We can't let him anywhere near her Lucy."

The lapin thought for a moment, "Why is that? They have orders to take her to Andrew."

Katt sighed, "Look I never told anyone this but, did you ever look up his history?"

"Course I did." She replied.

"Then you remember why it was he was kicked out of the military?"

Lucy thought for a moment, "No. I really didn't think that was relevant."

Katt sighed, "He was arrested and court marshaled for lewd and aggressive sexual behavior…" The term caused the young bunny to tilt her head she wasn't familiar with much on the military,

"Rape, Lucy." She said, "He raped several different female officers during his service, and apparently used his influences as a higher ranking officer to force them to keep their mouths shut…" She sighed looking to the floor, "He and I had a cooperative mission some time back when I was still flying solo. He tried the same thing with me…"

Lucy only blinked in disbelief, "W-what happened?"

Katt simply looked at her palm, unsheathing her rather long feline claws, before looking to the young hare…

"Let's just say his crotch hurt…a little too much for him to perform correctly." She said, "Once I informed his commanding officer of his actions…his other victims came forward and eventually the ones that were keeping the other girls quiet came forward. He was thrown in jail, but, managed to get passed for parole somehow. Then he just vanished…seems like he found his way onto Wolf O'Donnell's team. My guess is that O'Donnell caught wind of his skills as a soldier and paid for his way out of prison."

Lucy thought for a moment, "We can't let someone like that find Krystal." She said, "Someone as pretty as Krystal……"

"Where was she headed Lucy?" Katt asked.

Lucy sighed, "Sauria……where else would she go but to the one place that reminds her of Fox more than any other place out there?"

The feline sighed a bit, "How long till we land?"

"Why bother waiting?" Lucy chuckled, "There's a ship in the docking bay. I managed to……commandeer it for you." She smiled with a wink, "Small ship security systems aren't what they used to be."

Katt chuckled, "Huh. You know how much Peppy would have hated hearing you do that?"

"Yeah…" Lucy replied nodding, "But Papa also told me to help my friends whenever I could. You and Krystal are the only two I've really got; and if she's alive, I want her to be safe."

Katt quickly got up and gathered her things together, "Listen…I don't want Reiko to know I'm gone until you're all on solid ground okay?" She said checking over her weapons, "You know he'll follow me."

Lucy chuckled, "You know how much he cares about you right?"

Katt chuckled herself, "So. Which ship is it?"

Lucy sighed as she realized that Reiko was not something the feline wanted to talk about at the moment, "As soon as you're in the docking bay. It's the second to last fighter on the left." She replied, "You'll know it when you see it. It's got my old sweater tied to the landing gear."

Katt hugged the young hare before heading out the door, leaving Lucy there rubbing her arm in thought. Now she simply had to find out how it was she'd explain this to Reiko once he found out the truth……

**********

Kursed stepped out into the crisp open air of Thorntail Hollow: the greenery of the place was always so serene to her. It was late afternoon, and Lin was already rushing about the open landscape, stopping at the gorgeous stream that cut the land in two; the firebush tree, and she even pestered some of the local residents. Kursed chuckled as the panda finally found her way back to the water where she smiled into the stream watching a variety of colorful fish floating with the currents…

"I've never seen a place like this in my entire life."

The pale vixen lay down her weapon as she sat beside the stream removing her boots, "That's because this place has never felt the touch of modernization. The Saurians agree to allow Lylatians to visit and all but, we're not allowed to change anything."

The vixen laid her boots next to her as she dipped her feet into the pleasantly cold water, and allowed herself to fall back onto the cool grass…

"Feels like forever since I've been here." Kursed sighed.

Lin followed the vixen's example but remained seated as she looked at her feet in the water, "Um…Kursed. Why did you tell me…all that stuff about you and Star Fox?"

The vixen placed her paws under her head as she closed her eyes with a yawn, "Because I've been inside your head. I know you're an incredibly honest person and that you'd never tell a soul anything I've told you." She replied, "And like I said, you remind me of an old friend."

"But……"

Kursed quickly interrupted the panda shushing her with a light chuckle as she placed her paws back behind her head. Realizing that the vixen was relaxing, Lin followed her example and took the moment to rest herself…

**********

_She could hear the sounds of raindrops; however, as she opened her eyes Kursed could only see a blue shade of everything around her. Her head wouldn't move, her body, her eyes were free to roam, this all felt so familiar. It was however as her eyes shifted to the stone ground below her that she realized where she was. A young, handsome chestnut furred vulpine stood below her staring up at her, not bothering to notice just how damp the rain was making him. His lips moved, and yet she heard nothing. She called out to him, but, found she couldn't make a sound. It was hell, he was right in front of her, even in her dreams and she couldn't reach him, even hear his voice. She desperately tried in vain to call to him, to move in any way; her heart sank however as a strange figure appeared from the darkness slowly walking up behind him. The vixen strained herself attempting to call to him only to realize that the animal was one of the white clad assassins that quickly drove a knife into the unsuspecting vulpine's back…_

In a cold sweat the vixen instantly sat up, barely managing to catch herself before falling completely into the water before her. Her breathing was heavily labored, and as she looked into the water she paused with an uncertain look on her face as she realized what she was wearing. She was dressed in familiar white robes and a white hood; she looked just like one of the assassins that she had been hunting down. She examined her dress before looking around. The skies were dark and cloudy; a powerful scent of death filled the air. The land around her was no green paradise as she remembered it; it was all dead, infertile land that reminded her of some old dried out wasteland, the trees around the area were wilted and a hideous shade of brown. The old hag's shop just across the way was all but destroyed; there wasn't even an entrance anymore. The vixen quickly stuck her paws in the water splashing it over her eyes as this had to be some sort of hallucination. A familiar sting however met her eyes as and she quickly wiped them only to see that her white, gloved paws were covered with a thick crimson liquid. She looked down in horror as the perfectly clear water washed over with a bloody taint. Kursed quickly panicked scrambling away from the putrid stream only to back into what seemed to be a rather soft wall, but as she looked up the vixen let out a shrill cry of terror quickly backing away.

The wall behind her was not natural; it was composed entirely of bodies, interlaced with one another, she didn't care to count it. However, she did recognize many faces of animal's whose lives she'd ended in her pursuit of Fox's killers. It was as she slowly backed away from the monument of death that something strong grappled her arms while a paw caught her under the chin forcing her face back in the direction of the wall. She tried her hardest to block it out but found even the act of closing her eyes to be completely impossible, it was however as she turned her eyes away that she heard it…

"LOOK AT THEM!!!"

She instantly froze, the voice……it was hers. It was as she was forced to look at the mass of death that a single small finger came into her view just over the side of her muzzle, from the paw that was holding her face. It was light blue in color, a color of fur she'd almost completely forgotten…

"Why?" A light but familiar voice called dragging the vixen's attention to the center of the wall, where a familiar fox rolled his head to face her. It was Fox, his expression was blank for a moment before his face alone seemed to spring to life for a moment, "Krystal…"

The vixen instantly spun about forcing the one behind her to relinquish her. However, as she shot about there was nothing there; just the ship she'd come to Sauria on, the land was the perfect scenery that it had always been, and the babbling stream behind her was just as beautiful as it had ever been. She had no idea how it was she came to be standing again, and quickly looked to herself only to find that she was dressed in her standard gear, her scythe was still laying in the grass near the little panda girl whom still lay there sleeping with a happy smile on her face. Kursed looked to her paws, she could still feel the blood that ran over them, feel it trickling between her fingers and sticking to her fur. She rubbed her paws over her still tear filled eyes only to pull them away. Her paws wouldn't stop shaking, she couldn't remember a time when she'd been this scared. The images of those bodies mortified her beyond anything she'd ever seen, and yet even though she had realized long ago that it was a dream, she could still see their faces……especially Fox's. Lost in the thoughts of what she'd seen, the vixen finally collapsed to her knees. She couldn't understand it all; the dreams hadn't started until three years ago when she first came back to Sauria. The vixen simply gave up trying to figure them out after a short while, and began to sob helplessly into her paws. It was as she sat there that a paw lay on her shoulder, she instantly went rigid, the paw was much too large to be Lin, and the little panda would never have managed to sneak up on her even in her current state of mind; it was however, as these thoughts ran through her mind that a familiar scent caught her attention, bubblegum…or at least something like it. Either way the scent caused the vixen to slowly look over her shoulder to a familiar pink feline…

The vixen sniffled a bit, "Katt?" She asked in disbelief, "No this is just another dream."

The feline dropped to her knees wrapping her arms around the young vixen, "I don't care if it is." She said doing little to hide her own tears, "You're alive……that's all that matters."

Kursed was still stunned, the pink feline was real, or at least she felt real, and she wasn't covered in blood, or dying in her arms. With the realization that Katt really was in front of her, Kursed quickly wrapped her arms around the feline. She was still shaking and crying, but, at least now she was partially crying because she knew that Katt was actually there…


	7. Chapter 7

**Author Notes: **_Well here's chapter seven for EOTB. Not as long as I wanted but, like Second Chances, it's next chapter will prove much longer. Anyhow. Thanks for all the support. Reviews always help...and I'll catch ya next time..._

_The Footsteps in the Darkness ~ SkullFox  
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_Frag the weak, Hurdle the dead ~ Mykll

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**Chapter 7:** Regrets and Redemption……

"She did what!?!"

Reiko's voice shot through the small hanger they'd been standing in for a short while, causing Lucy to back down looking at the floor…

"She told me not to tell you……" The hare replied shyly, "……but, I'm worried about her. I know Kursed won't hurt her. It's just that a lot of Andrew's men are going there, and even though I have confidence in Katt and Kursed……two of Andrew's generals is too much for any one or two of us to take down alone."

The dark furred Coyote growled causing the pink lapin to cringe, possibly expecting some form of physical punishment for lying to him. Only to slowly open her eyes to the fell of the animal's strong paw rubbing her head, with a sigh…

"Creed…" He called to the large fox standing nearby, "Take her to the Blind Vixen."

Reiko gave Lucy a slight push toward Creed as he walked out of the hanger…

"Where the hell are you going?" Creed called.

The coyote sighed as he stopped at the exit of the hanger, looking to the orange colored sky, "Apparently……? Sauria." He said, "If that useless bastard Seven were here I'd send him but, he's been gone…since……" Reiko cut himself off with another sigh as he shook his head looking to the floor on his way out.

Creed sighed as Lucy looked up to him, "He still feels guilty for causing Seven to leave." She said.

"Yeah I know." Creed replied resting a paw on the pink Lapin's shoulder, "Let's get to the motel."

As they walked out of the hanger Lucy looked to the towering vulpine, "Um…Creed. What will you do when we finally free Lylat? You said the Wraiths were all you had."

Creed sighed as they headed down the sidewalks of the city, "If I'm lucky? I won't live long enough to have to think about it."

**********

Kursed wiped the sweat from her brow, she had no idea why, but after her nightmare she was certain that this would clear her conscience. She still wore five of the tags of the Wraiths she'd killed; the ones the assassin on Kew had given her. She hated admitting it but, he was right whoever he was, these animals were all her burden, not his. For all she knew he had nothing to do with Fox's death, for all she knew none of these twenty-three had anything to do with it. She looked out over the small plain she'd chosen, overlooking a gorgeous waterfall that was so high it seemed to rain from the heavens itself. There were so far, nineteen body sized mounds of stone, each harboring a large wooden cross near it's head, where one of the metal tags swayed in the wind. She sighed as she removed another tag and lay it around the top of the wooden cross of the nineteenth. Katt had offered to help her but, she'd refused; this was something the vixen had decided she had to do on her own. It was her plea for forgiveness. She took little time to dwell on her thoughts at the moment however, she still had work to do……

It was nearly dark again when the white furred vixen sighed, laying the last metal tag over the last cross of the final grave. It was only now that she finally stopped and looked over the small field of crosses, bowing her head and closing her eyes…praying silently that the spirits of the animals would find some way to forgive what she'd done. It was as the vixen stood there that something caught her mind however……another mind actually. Kursed moved to the edge of the cliff looking down at the massive expanse of green valley's below before removing a small device from it's place on her belt; a small scope like monocular that she kept on her person when not in space. She placed the thing over her eyes and pressed a button, causing the entire world to take on a vibrant green hue that seemed to make everything stick out. Down at the bottom of the valley she could pick out several forms moving across the valley floor in the direction of her camp. Suddenly one of the minds lurched out at her causing her to drop her scope over the edge of the cliff. Even the feel of his sick mind, caused the young vixen to cringe, and the thought of Caruso heading for her camp only made the vixen worry that much more about the two that were waiting for her…

It was as the young Cerinian rushed through the landscape toward her camp that she reached out with her mind, grasping onto that of the pink feline waiting for her at camp……

"_Katt!"_

The urgent call for her caused the feline to practically jump out of her fur, she'd never actually been contacted like this from the vixen before, but knew from her explanation how it worked…

"_Krystal? This is a really creepy way of contacting a person."_

"_Just listen to me…get Lin out of there." _The vixen shouted in the feline's mind, _"Two of Andrew's generals are on their way to that camp."_

"_What about you?"_ Katt replied with a small hint of panic in her thoughts.

"_Don't worry about me……I'm more worried about you two and what Caruso will do if he finds you both there." _Kursed replied, _"Just get her somewhere safe, I promised Zang I'd watch after her, and not let some psychotic rapist get his claws into her."_

"_Alright but, stay clear…okay?"_

"_I can't do that Katt. If I do they won't stop searching until they find us."_ Kursed replied, _"It's better that I play the role I'm supposed to. If I'm lucky I'll be able to talk them out of whatever they're here for before they do anything too stupid."_

Kursed finally burst onto the campsite, and sighed with relief at the fact that the panda and feline were nowhere to be found. The young vixen found her scythe and sat beside her small crackling campfire. It was as she sat there that the vixen reached for a skewered fish that had been sitting over the flames, she took a healthy bite of the fish as she waited for her breathing to calm down from her run. It was as she waited that the sound of footsteps peeked the vixen's interest from the entrance to the Hollow; they came from her favorite place on the entire planet; a small glade she'd visited several times recently between where she was in the Hollow, and the Lightfoot Village. She sighed at the thought of them coming through there, such a beautiful space she believed, should never be forced to accommodate that kind of filth. Kursed glared menacingly at the muscular black panther that walked into the area. She could already feel his twisted thoughts that started at the sight of her. The vixen however kept her composure…

With a wave of his paw, Panther's men all quickly focused their weapons on her, however with a glare from the vixen the soldiers found themselves at each other's gunpoint. It sickened her that this action only seemed to entice the panther even more then before. Kursed's eyes locked onto a familiar Lynx however as she walked onto the field…

"I would have hoped you'd take my warning a little more seriously…" The vixen said, "Trust me when I tell you that I'm not one to repeat myself……and I always keep my word."

The panther smiled brightly, Kursed supposed that he'd appear save, even debonaire to someone that couldn't see through him; but she was hardly like any other girl. She could feel every sick thought that went through his mind every moment he stood there. With that smile on his face the vixen felt nothing but the need to rush in and tear his muzzle off, anything that would wipe that smirk from his face…

"Far be it from me to see such a lovely face disgraced by an angry look." Panther said with a sweeping bow, "You may call me…" The animal froze as he found Verra's weapon's barrel against the side of his head.

"Skip the introductions." The white vixen said, "Why are you bothering me?" She half growled.

Panther smiled as the fact that he could see no color to Verra's eyes, a clear sign that she was being controlled, "I think you know well why it is I am here." He replied, "You interrupted the Emperor's plans." He replied, "Though my companion here is rather dense on the subject, I would simply like to hear your reasoning for you actions before attempting to prosecute you any further."

Kursed sighed, rolling her eyes, "Well……sir. I happen to be a mercenary before a bounty hunter." She said giving the animal a sly grin, "I simply happen to be doing my job in bringing back my contractor's niece."

Panther sighed, "Well that is another question then." He smiled, "If you'd be only so kind as to tell me this contractor's name…"

The pale vixen chuckled, "When I put my word on something, it stays to the death. You think I would break my word for you? Or you Emperor?" She said as Verra's weapon pressed forward causing the panther's head to bob to one side, "Plus there's the fact that you are hardly in the position to be issuing threats, or negotiations. Just because you work for some sort of Tyrant I'm supposed to be afraid of you?" She chuckled standing up and rolling her neck, "Let me just say that I'm not someone that has a lot to loose…so there's no point in my being afraid of anything really."

"Hmmm……" The panther sighed scratching his chin, "……you know I may be willing to hire you for a bit of……dirty work. That is if you don't mind killing someone for money." He said, "With that in mind…I'd be willing to act as though we never found you here."

Kursed gave the feline an uncertain look, he was telling the truth, but, there was a catch that he was actually managing to keep to himself, "What's the catch?"

"No strings attached." He smiled.

Kursed curled a lip in his direction, "I find that a little hard to swallow."

"Very well…" He sighed, "What if I could offer you the leader of these……Wraiths you've been hunting?" He asked causing her to look at him shocked, "That's right, we know that you've been hunting them down. I am not certain why, but, your enemy is my enemy. I find this to be little reason to be at each other's throats."

"There's always a catch." Kursed sighed thinking to herself, "What do you want?"

"I think you will find my terms………flexible at best." Panther said with a Cheshire grin.

The vixen donned a fraudulent smile, "And you brought all these soldiers with you to watch?"

"This little rabble was the Emperor's order."

Suddenly three of the soldiers with him all fired their weapons, causing them to fall to the ground, entering the Hollow would be the last memory they'd ever have…

"I don't care for liars……general."

He could tell by the look on her face that the vixen had no intention of allowing him to leave there alive; he could almost hear the Lynx's finger squeezing the trigger of her weapon, before he made an almost lightning fast motion yanking the other feline's paw to aim the weapon at Kursed just before it went off. Kursed's paw rose just in time for the projectile to strike a blue field of light before her. This distraction gave the panther the time he required to rush off into the woods throwing Verra to the ground on his way…

It was just ask Katt peeked over the thicket her and Lin had hid inside of that the other soldiers all fired on each other. The pink feline quickly rushed over to meet the white furred vixen as she stood over Verra, who lay there shaking the cobwebs out of her head. Katt quickly and very roughly used her foot to roll the injured animal over…

"We've been looking for her for a while." She pointed out, "It's too bad we couldn't get a hold of that bastard Panther."

Kursed sighed, "He was always a coward. He just tries to hide it." She said looking to Verra as she knelt beside her, "Now, you. You can tell me what I want to know, or I can take it from you……but, trust me you don't want me forcing information out of your head, it can get messy."

"Are……you going to kill me?" Verra asked slowly sitting up.

"I haven't decided yet." Kursed replied.

Verra chuckled, "Then what reason do I have to talk?"

Suddenly the feline fell to the ground screaming in pain while holding the sides of her head, it felt as if the contents of her skull were boiling, but, just as quickly as the pain had come it vanished. This time the feline lay there gasping for air while still holding the side of her head…

"The angrier I am the more it hurts." Kursed said, "I've never experienced it myself, but, I can judge well enough from the response it gets."

Verra couldn't believe the kind of pain she was in, there were tears of pain in her eyes and her sight was horribly blurred, "W-whatever you want. Just please……"

"Fine…" Kursed replied, "There's only one thing I really want to know then……" She said pausing as she looked to Katt, "Did the Wraiths have anything to do with the Star Fox murder? And try to keep in mind that I can tell whether or not you're lying."

Verra looked to the vixen curiously, "Why would you want to know?"

A sudden shot of pain caused the feline to howl in agony as she lost what balance she'd gained falling to the ground again…

"I am the one asking the questions."

This time she didn't bother getting back up, she simply closed her eyes, "Not as much as you think." Verra finally replied, "Andrew……The Emperor. Only ordered that Fox McCloud be brought to him. The Wraiths had an infamous record for……questionable jobs. Once Andrew got them into his employ he sent them to bring Fox McCloud to him alive. However, Andrew had a new guy hidden inside the tower, and when the timing was right…he struck. The wraiths did their jobs flawlessly. When the Emperor finally got his prize, he threw the Wraiths, and McCloud in prison."

"Why not just kill them all on the spot?" Katt asked.

The Lynx finally found the resolve to sit up, "Apparently he was going to use them all; he was going to have McCloud publicly executed to make the populous think twice about ever rising up against him. And the Wraiths were to be killed to keep any of the information from getting out."

Kursed glared at her, "But?"

"But…" Verra replied, "They broke out of prison. According to records Fox McCloud was shot and killed during the escape. That's all I know…"

Kursed turned to Katt with a sigh…she'd killed so many animals in the name of revenge only to suddenly have her faith in what she was doing stripped from her. She took a moment to look over her shoulder at the Lynx who was barely managing to stagger to her feet in pain. Suddenly Katt covered her muzzle shouting Krystal's name, causing the vixen to drop to a seated position on her heels before catching her scythe and driving it's blade up diagonally through the Lynx's body, causing her upper half to slide away from her torso. Lin instantly slapped her paws over her muzzle rushing off to find a place to throw up, she clearly wasn't used to seeing anything like that. Kursed however looked to the Lynx's body; her paw still clutched a small gun, who's only fired shot had grazed the side of the vixen's face…

She turned to see Katt's stunned face, "You……really killed all those people trying to avenge Fox?"

"And Slippy…Peppy…and Falco…"

Katt thought for a moment, "Krystal, come back with me. We can explain this all to Reiko. He's not a bad person he's just a little bent on his motives. I'm sure he can help you, him and Creed were the two that were captured."

Kursed sighed, "We'll talk about it somewhere else. Right now get on my ship, you and Lin." She said stepping away from the dead Lynx, "I just killed a General……where can I go from here?"

It was as she sat there thinking about whether this was a boon or a mistake a familiar voice caught her attention…

"Krystal come on!" Katt yelled from beside the vixen's ship, "We have to go now before Panther brings more men!"

It was as the craft left the ground, that Kursed looked back, even if only in thought; what did she have left now? Sauria was a special place to her, not only was it close to her heart because she'd met Fox there, but, also because the place reminded her so much of Cerinia. She trusted Katt, and knew that what she had heard was the truth from Verra, but, it was the other Wraiths that she had a problem with. Could she really trust them, knowing she'd killed so many of their friends? Only the young pink furred feline that sat across the room from her could tell…

**********

The vixen woke from a deep sleep, she wasn't certain what had made her so tired, maybe it was all the stress from the day, or even her whole week altogether. Either way, she was rested when she awoke…though a bit shaken when she woke to find a pink feline curled up beside her. She convinced herself that the feline was only happy to see her though she was well aware of the feline's sexual past habit of sleeping with other females. She was still happy however to see the feline…and realize that as she woke up that everything hadn't been a dream. Though she didn't want to, she had to wake the feline…

"Hey…" She called lightly shaking the sleeping feline, "Hey, Katt. Wake up."

The feline rolled over a bit, "What?"

"Where are we going?" The pale furred vixen asked, "I'm going to leave the next move up to you."

Katt smiled pulling the vixen back down to the bed before wrapping her arms around her, "Not now…still tired."

"KATT!!"

This time the poor feline was startled by the vixen's sudden risen tone of voice, and she quickly rolled over falling out of the bed…

"What?!" She called, "What happened?" She seemed to have still been half asleep.

"I've decided to hear you out." Kursed said, "If your friends were both there, they'd be able to tell me what happened and if I'm lucky they can help me find the bastard that killed the others."

Katt sighed, there was no way that Reiko wouldn't be pissed when he found out that she was consorting with the animal that had killed so many of their friends; but, she was also certain that he would understand the misunderstanding, and if not she would make him understand.

**********

Andrew's office was rattled as a desk flew into the far off door; the two hooded animals that stood by marveled in the fact that he'd become so strong over the passing years, physically he was beginning to resemble his late uncle and even more so, seemed to be building himself into a powerful warrior…

"That bitch…" The ape growled struggling to keep from hitting the window too hard, "…so she killed Verra. She was a great informant…"

One of the two animals removed his hood revealing a one eyed, gray furred lupine, "She can be replaced Andrew."

The ape spun about, "THAT IS NOT THE POINT!!!" He shouted at O'Donnell, "She's just one bounty hunter…I could crush her in an instant. The fact of the matter is the people look up to her…It hasn't mattered how much bad publicity I give her she's just like those fucks from Star Fox." He growled kicking his chair which demolished a small table against the far wall, "It didn't matter what we did to Star Fox……we had to come out into the open to finally get rid of them, and I'm not even certain that we've accomplished that."

"Then you have no intention of replacing Verra?" O'Donnell asked.

Andrew sighed, finally calming himself, "I did not say that. For now I just want that bitch dead…I want to see her pelt hung from my wall…and get that coward Caruso in here…we need to talk."

With a huff Wolf headed out of the room, leaving the second animal behind simply waiting, "Well?" Andrew half shouted, "What do you want?"

"I found some information about that other animal in the Academy." The hooded creature said, "It was indeed one of the Wraiths……Seven nonetheless. I would think that it's safe to say that Kursed has joined their little……Vendetta."

Andrew looked to a small photo that had fallen from his desk, a picture of the lovely white furred vixen, "What drives her to do something so incredibly stupid? Could she possibly have a just cause for wanting to kill Verra? Or was she sending me a message?" He asked looking to the only animal left in the room flicking the photo to the cloaked figure, "Cross reference that photo; I want all the information on every white furred vixen in this entire star system."

The animal looked to the photo, "I'll see what I can dig up."

Andrew again found himself in his office alone. Wondering how it was he was going to stop the Wraiths, whom he couldn't find. When he couldn't even stop Kursed…who was fully out in the open…


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N:**_ Okay my little break didn't last as long as i'd thought. Luckily here in Cali i have a lot of friends that refuse to toss someone out on their ass. Anyhow, enough bout me and my bullfashisim. If anything seems out of place or anything it's only because i haven't had time to have Mykll look this chapter over. In the long run however i will fix this before the next chapter. Thanks for the support all... ^_^_

_The Footsteps in the Darkness ~ SkullFox_

_Frag the weak, Hurdle the dead ~ Mykll

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**Chapter 8:** Enemies and Allies……

On a small plane on planet Sauria a familiar cloaked figure stands, overlooking an awe inspiring waterfall, where a small graveyard is set up. He'd taken his time looking over each small grave; examining the small metal tags hanging from each small wooden cross. Kursed had done what he was certain he never could, she'd found a peaceful way of relinquishing the burdens of these animals' deaths. The assassin sighed, he'd lost her trail……true he wasn't completely certain what he'd do once he caught her…but, he would figure that out upon finding her. He couldn't risk loosing any of the others. The animal slowly turned and bantering a small prayer under his breath for the one's who rested here, made his way off toward his small ship…

**********

The pale furred vixen woke with a start; like every night since then, she still saw it all, the rivers of blood, the accusing eyes of all the animals that had been lost at her paws. Kursed slowly rolled to one side hanging her legs over the edge of her bed. Resting her palms over her eyes, the vixen took a moment. Her breathing had been slightly erratic on waking. It was Cerinian lore that dreams possessed hidden meanings, not just some dreams but all dreams were a form of the Ether attempting to speak with the mind. Even during her shower, a time she tried her hardest to take to relax, though most of the time her attempts failed, she couldn't get the images out of her head. The smell of something cooking filled the ship however, and this was the only real thing that gave Kursed a reason to head out into the halls. A bit taken by the smell that filled the halls of the small ship, the vixen trudged down the halls until she found herself sitting in the kitchen…

"Morning." Katt's voice welcomed her into the room.

"Morning." Kursed replied with a yawn.

The feline chuckled as Kursed sat in the seat across from her, "This kid can really cook. She's Zang's niece right?" She asked, "What made you bring her with you?"

The vixen sighed looking toward the young panda, who was far too wrapped up in what she was doing to pay attention to them, "She reminded me of……myself." She said, "Back before Fox saved me. I didn't really have anywhere to go either. I wanted to drop her off somewhere, but……I remembered how bad it felt to live like that myself; and I just couldn't do it."

Katt chuckled, "Well at least you found yourself a good cook right?"

Kursed chuckled to herself, "Yeah right." She said, "How far off are we from Xenass?"

"We landed just over an hour ago." Katt replied, "Thought I'd just let you sleep until you felt like getting up."

Kursed sighed, "So…" She said, "How long have you been working with these Wraiths?"

Katt wasn't expecting the change of subject, "About three years actually." She replied, "Apparently Fox had some connections with them. Cuz as soon as word got out that Fox was dead…they came to my door. Saved my ass too; not even two days after they came for me my face came up as a missing person." She said, "It wasn't really until I got there that I found out that several of Fox's old friends had been recruited by the Wraiths. I guess that Andrew wanted to sever every tie possible just in case one of the team managed to make it out alive. Cuz, they went after Miyu, Fay, Angela, even Lucy……but, we were already taken away by Reiko and his little team."

"Are they all safe?" Kursed asked.

Katt sighed, "Possibly……I know that Miyu and Fay were both on an assignment in Stygian." She said lowering her head, "Angela……Andrew's men captured her some time ago. We haven't seen her since."

The vixen hoped to pass up the thought that she might have killed someone she knew; had it been Miyu or Fay she was certain that she'd never have been able to forgive herself. She had never really gotten to know Fay all that much, but, she and Miyu had gotten close in a very short time, their connection was almost the very same as the way she felt for Katt. The vixen was more than happy that Katt was alive, and here with her, but, something told her that what she was about to do was a bad idea……then again something told her that killing one of Andrew's generals was a bad idea, but, that ship had long sailed…and if she had her way about it, it would be a mistake she'd gladly make again. It was after Lin sat out three plates of food and ate her own fill that Krystal looked to the young panda…

"Apparently we'll be staying here for a while Lin." She said, "After Katt and I leave, I want you to lock down the ship, and disable the locks so that even I can't get in unless you let me. Understand?"

"But why?" Lin asked, "I want to come with you."

The white furred vixen smiled, "Thanks for the concern Lin, but, I don't think I'd be able to live with myself if I let you get yourself hurt. I've caused enough people to get hurt."

The panda thought for a moment, "Fine. Can I help from here then?"

Kursed looked to Katt for a moment before looking back to Lin, "Well…how good are you with a computer?"

Lin chuckled, "At this day and age, you ask a person my age that?"

The pale furred vixen mused to herself, "Hmm…touche." She scoffed, "Well in that case I want you to stay here on the ship. Try your hardest to find any information you can; anything that I don't already know about Andrew's generals…other than that just stay here on this ship. Alright?"

Lin sighed, 'Alright. I guess after all you've done for me the least I can do is stay put like I'm told for once."

Kursed rubbed the panda girl's head, "Good." She said patting Katt on the shoulder, 'Come on Katt. Let's go see this leader or yours. Hope he's as calm as he was at Zang's office."

Katt chuckled, "Yeah. I wouldn't count on that too much."

Katt lead the young vixen out into the streets without much delay, hoping that her little plan would fall through as smoothly as it did in her head, though somehow she highly doubted it. She kept an eye out as the two walked through the trash covered streets of the unkept Sector 5, nobody really cared about this part of the colony, which was why Reiko had chosen this place to lay low for a while. The reason behind the assassins' elaborate robes was to keep their identities from being exposed allowing them free movement when not wearing them. The feline however did feel odd at the moment; after all they were both fairly attractive females, in the center of a slum. The feline let out a short cry of surprise as Kursed yanked her into a small alleyway by her arm. It wasn't but a few moments before two slightly short figures moved into the alleyway; luckily not noticing that there were a set of eyes watching them from a small crack in the closed lid of a Dumpster…

"Lousy muggers." Kursed whispered to herself as they two figures moved on, "Stay here I'll make sure it's clear."

The vixen quickly leaped out of the receptacle and rushed around the corner back out into the street. There was nothing to be seen but a short number of vehicles passing by in the street, and a flickering streetlight that seemed like it'd go out anytime soon. However it was as she turned back toward the alley that she noticed a dark figure holding Katt from behind with a sharp looking knife to her throat. At first she was worried until the vixen smiled; he was panicked, the other animal that had run by was an Enforcer. The Enforcers were a special breed of cop, more like a bounty hunter than anything else, one of the many wonderful things that Andrew had decided to give birth to in the Lylat system. He was a shorter rat than even Kursed was used to running into in most of her jobs…

The vixen pulled her weapon from behind her back as she noticed the rat's missing right paw, "I think I remember you."

"Just stay back." He demanded as he stepped out of the alleyway, "This isn't how I wanted this to happen alright?"

Kursed sighed, "I knew I remembered you. They let you out of jail already?" She asked, "You really think you can get away this time? Look what happened last time."

The rat swallowed hard looking to his missing paw; he quickly pulled his knife away from Katt's neck before turning and very forcefully tossing her into the street. Realizing what the rat had done, Katt sat up shaking her head as she'd hit the pavement rather hard. There was no time for her to react to the vehicles that was speeding in her direction. She didn't even see the vixen as Kursed tackled Katt out of the street. As she recovered the vixen realized that the feline was unconscious, with a large cut on her forehead. Kursed wasn't even given a chance to check the feline for the extent of her injury before something slammed into her, driving her over a small rail, causing her to land quite painfully on her back, knocking the wind from her lungs, as she found herself looking up at a short overpass from a heightened rooftop…

It only took her a moment to recover before standing up; she was a bit more than surprised to find that there was a familiar looking dark furred coyote standing across from her. He gave her no time to react; for in an instant the coyote whipped two small pistols from beneath the long white coat he wore firing several shots, each of which impacted what he could only assume was a shield of some kind in front of her. He seemed to practically fly toward her before Kursed's paw reached up toward the overpass causing the coyote to roll to safety as a familiar looking scythe plowed it's way into the rooftop. Kursed looked on as the dark gray furred coyote slid to a stop before growling fiercely at her.

He was clearly deaf to the world as she called for him to stop, as Reiko lunged at her again. Not wanting to actually be forced to injure him however after promising Katt that she would at least try to explain herself, the vixen barely managed to dodge an attack that seemed to come from a source that remained unseen until he was standing prone again. The two guns he'd held were now both housing long slightly curved blades, making each gun roughly a two foot sword each. He seemed to be studying her movements as the two circled one another. Reiko spun one of his blades before yet again rushing in on the vixen only to have his blade meet that of Kursed's scythe; before, however, Kursed could even realize it, his other gun shifted it's form and a loud shot followed a red hot projectile grazing the side of her face. Kursed instantly lashed out driving her foot into the coyote's ribs driving him slightly into the air before the back end of her weapon came down across his back. Reiko yelped in pain as he was driven chest first into the rooftop; not waiting for a moment, however, the coyote rolled toward her in a surprising movement, his weight knocking the vixen off balance and onto her back before she rolled to one side, narrowly escaping the blades that buried themselves into the roof before a heavy boot met with her chest sliding her some distance away. It took only an instant for the vixen to get herself back to her feet as she used the sliding momentum to roll onto her feet. The shots came again however, this time as she found the coyote rushing in at her; Kursed however beat him to the attack this time coming down on him with her scythe only to have Reiko stop the blade, which slid across the surface of his gun before she found the other aimed at her face.

As the vixen's scythe blade plowed into the floor however, the coyote's weapon seemed to practically explode in his paw, causing him to throw the weapon away. In an instant another attack fell upon the vixen as her scythe was swung upward from under. The attacks however froze as they two both heard a loud cry for sanity…

"Stop!!!" Katt's voice screamed causing a scythe and sword blade to both come within mere inches of her face.

Katt slowly opened her eyes, and as she realized that the attacks had stopped she turned to Reiko, "She's my friend." She huffed wincing in pain as she held her paw to her forehead, "She killed Verra……Caruso even watched it happen."

"That doesn't change what she did." Reiko replied, "That animal has killed everyone I swore to protect."

"And it was a misunderstanding……" Katt replied, "She was with Star Fox…she saw someone that night wearing one of our uniforms. What would you have done if your whole life was taken from you like that?"

Reiko took a moment to catch his breath as he looked the vixen over, "So you're the one that Andrew went crazy looking for all those years ago?" He asked.

Kursed lightly nodded, "Yes. I came here because I thought you might be able to help me. I need information, about what happened to Fox."

The coyote sighed, "And I'm supposed to trust you after everything you've done?"

Kursed looked to the ground, "No……" She replied, "I wouldn't suppose you would."

Reiko was clearly thinking sharply about something as the vixen continued to look to the ground until Katt looked to him, "Reiko. Please……she's my friend."

"I understand……but, I'm not putting anyone else in danger." He replied, "Take her to the Red Rose Motel……I'll see what I can sort through. Then I'll be there to talk to her……" He sighed, "In the mean time I need to have Eight see whether or not she can find Seven. He normally doesn't run off like this."

Katt sighed, "Come on Krystal." She said helping the vixen along the way as she seemed to favor her side a bit.

**********

The white clad animal watched like a hawk as several animal, all in rather nice suits headed into a building. He could recognize them all as Andrew's higher ups, several generals followed by several high ranking officers each. It was as he stepped away from the ledge of the rooftop that the animal kept his eye out toward the far off building…not bothering to look to the other clad in white behind him…

"I was wondering if I'd find you here." Seven sighed.

The strange animal across from him dropped a metal tag to the rooftop, "Funny how this shit works out huh?" He chuckled, "I bet none of you ever even knew how long I've been working for Andrew……he's had a mind to overthrow his uncle for years, he just never had the manpower to pull it off."

Seven slowly turned around freeing a small knife from it's sheath across the small of his back, "I trusted you."

The animal across from him lay his wrists behind his back, resulting in a metallic sound before he pulled his arms back reveling two rather long curved blades protruding from his bracers, "To be honest I was hoping you died with the others; or at the very least that, that bitch Kursed would have finished you off."

"Too bad you were too afraid to do it yourself back then." Seven retorted angrily, "If you'd have just finished the job this wouldn't be happening. If you weren't a god damned coward!"

The animal across from him rose his arm, pointing one of the long blades at Seven, "You're one to talk, hiding behind masks." He said, "So why don't we stop lying to each other and ourselves and finish this the way it the way it was meant to be finished?"

Seven rose his free paw, pulling his hood away slowly; what lay beneath was a young, battle worn fox. His light chestnut fur waved against the bitter night wind that blue through the rooftops. What appeared to be some sort of white bandages wrapped about his muzzle covering the lower half of his face. A thick white tuft of hair started just shy of his forehead trailing back down his skull to the back of his neck, and his eyes thought filled with anger and rage were a deep jade that seemed to even glow in the city's night. A single, elongated scar stretched from the corner of his right eye, crossing his cheek and vanishing below the bandages that hid his muzzle from sight…

This was the one part of Seven's past that he could never let go of, this one animal had ruined everything he'd ever held dear. A powerful wind blew through the rooftops as small specs of white slowly began to fall around them.. He'd save no more time for words……


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: **_Yo everybody, this is a great week for me. I've gotten up a chapter of this story, Chains of Fate 2, and Second Chances. Plus for the first time in months I'll have another chapter ready for Tails's Luck 2. ^_^ At least for right now writer's block goes bye bye. So enjoy the chapters, and I'll be back soon with more of 'em..._

_The Footsteps in the Darkness ~ SkullFox_

_Frag the weak hurdle the dead ~ Mykll

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**Chapter 9: War…**

The white furred vixen had expected Reiko to show up at least some time that night; she was slowly becoming more and more irate. However, the young feline that stayed with her had a habit of being able to calm her down in even the most intense situations. She was always happy that the pink Zonessian was nearby, even shortly after first meeting her, Katt seemed to simply be a very lively spirit that Krystal found very easy to get along with…even if the vixen had never actually admitted it, she held the feline in close regard as a sister of sorts. She was glad enough that the small room that the two had chosen to stay in was plenty big enough, and the motel was located in very close proximity to a small restaurant making food easy enough to come by. However, Katt still found Krystal sitting at the small table in the room that gave her a good view of the small patch of city outside the motel…

"Is the newer you always this paranoid?" Katt chuckled as she made her way to the table.

Krystal sighed, "I've been though some rough times since that night Katt." She replied, "You weren't around; neither was anyone else. I was afraid of going to Lucy; they'd just track me down and kill her too. So I did what Fox had always told me to do if something like this were to happen. I ran to Sauria and hid my ship and myself until I thought I might be safe." She said looking to herself, "This all just happened."

Katt sighed, "I think Fox would be proud of you. Seeing what you've done for yourself."

Krystal sighed as she stared out the window, "I miss him, Katt." She said, "I dream about him almost every night. I never told anyone this but; I…I really liked him. Actually I think…..I was falling in love with him."

The feline didn't really respond to the vixen's confession…

"It felt strange being around him after he saved my life," She said, "I felt like I could hardly say a word around him without worrying that he'd think I was strange or something. It's not fair that I never actually got to tell him how I felt." She sighed, "I guess that's why I came after you guys so hard. I still can't believe that I've been after the wrong people this whole time."

Katt patted the vixen on the shoulder, "Krystal it's not your fault…and it never was. Andrew and the rest of his little crew did this, and they're the ones that have to pay for it."

…**Home, Wraith hideout…**

Reiko sighed as he walked into the place; there was little to no chance of anyone finding the place, the Wraiths had bases otherwise called Homes in every corner of what used to be the Trinity Accord. This place was located under a nearby hotel, whose owner was a long time supporter of the Wraiths. There were many people like the owner here that decided to help the Wraiths in any way they could, then again they were the primary source of animals that actually knew of their existence past a rough rumor or two…

The dark furred coyote slowly found a seat on a large sofa; he was certain that this was the most well done home he'd seen in some time. There was a large, leather sofa, a fairly large station for Lucy's command center in a corner of the room, and a decently large kitchen, as well as several small rooms, though clearly not enough of them for Reiko's team. It was as he sat there that Reiko looked over to the pink furred hare sitting at her computer desk that he finally exhaled irritated through his nose…

"Have you found him yet?" He asked.

Lucy's rapid typing instantly drew to a halt, "No…" She said lowering her head, "…he turned off his tracer and his communicator." She sighed, "You shouldn't have been so hard on him Reiko. You and Creed are the only two he's opened up to; you're the only two he actually trusts…"

"That's where you're wrong…" Reiko replied under his breath.

"What was that?" Lucy asked.

"Nothing…" Reiko Replied, "…what about Creed, is he out there?"

"Yes…" The young lapin responded with a sigh, "…but, I haven't heard from him in hours. Ever since he landed anyhow. The last signal I got from Seven's ship showed that he was landing on Zoness's only moon. I also tracked a large portion of Andrew's main crew there. Creed landed just over an hour ago."

"So it's safe to assume that Seven is there then…" Reiko pointed out, "…good."

Lucy leaned back in her seat, "I really miss everyone back home; I hope Seven understand how much I appreciate what he did for Katt and me. If it wasn't for him I'd be lonely and dead. Where is Katt anyhow? Is she on a mission?"

Reiko sighed, "No, she's…" He paused for a moment debating with himself whether to tell her or not, "…she's with an old friend."

Lucy sat up looking to him contently, "Really!" She half shouted, "Someone Katt knows?"

"Yeah…you know her too." He replied.

This time Lucy stood up and made her way to the coyote as he looked to the ground, "Who?"

Reiko thought for a moment, "About five foot two, nice figure…blue fur."

Lucy couldn't believe her ears, "Wait. Are you telling me that you guys found Krystal?" She asked, "Where was she? Is she alright? Why didn't she come looking for anyone after the atta…"

Reiko held up a paw, "Lucy…geez calm down and take a seat." He said causing her to sit next to him, "First off she's been here in Lylat the whole time, in hiding…sort of. Secondly she found us, cause she was hunting us down…"

Lucy instantly held her paw over her mouth, "Kursed?"

"Yeah…" Reiko replied, "…she thought we killed McCloud and the others that night. According to her the guy that was inside the building was dressed like one of us. McCloud had apparently always told her to run if something should happen to him."

"Why would he do something like that?"

Reiko sighed, "Think about it Luce." He said, "She just joins the team, then this happens. Who's the first person everyone would blame?" He asked, "The outsider. So given that she lived, the best possible means for her to stay out of a public execution would be for her to get lost."

Lucy chuckled a bit to herself wiping a tear from her eye, "Fox…he really had it all planned out didn't he?"

Reiko chuckled, "Yeah looks like it. She says she wants to join us now…" He said, "…what do you think I should do?"

Lucy's expression turned serious, "I see. You don't know whether or not you can trust her because of all the people she's hurt." She pointed out getting a light nod in return, "Reiko…we've always trusted you and so did the others. This seems like one big misunderstanding though…I know what you think, but, Katt and I both know her…if she says she wants to help you, then she does. She doesn't lie; I don't think she's capable of it."

Reiko sighed, "Fine. I'll bring her here; I just hope you and Katt know what the hell you two are talking about." He said standing up and heading out of the room, "Just keep an ear out for Creed."

**…****...Zoness…...**

Creed had spent hours searching for Seven, as the locator that all the Wraiths wore was not completely being accurate at the time. That however eventually stopped impeding the large fox's success as he entered a narrow alleyway. The signal was strongest near where he was, yet he couldn't see anything resembling his team mate. Suddenly a dark figure fell from the rooftops crashing into a small mess of metal trash bins; Creed hesitantly approached the mass of destroyed cans, only to activate his communicator…

The vulpine sighed, "Reiko…Eight was right, he's here."

"Is he with you?" Reiko's voice came back over the communicator.

Creed looked down to the beaten, bloody, and otherwise ravaged animal that lay there among the ruined trash bins. His robes were tattered and bloody, and he seemed to have trouble breathing…

"More or less…yeah." He replied.

Reiko growled, "Let me talk to him."

Creed sighed, "There's a slight chance that he can't really talk to you right now." He replied, "He's in a pretty bad way right now. Looks like someone beat the hell of him. Funny though, I've never seen him like this before…"

"Get him back here as soon as possible then." Reiko replied.

Creed sighed as he lifted the injured animal off the ground and onto his shoulders, before what felt like a bullet ricocheted off the metal of his left arm. Causing the large fox to duck back behind a Dumpster…

"Fuck fuck fuck fuck FUCK!" He swore at himself flipping his communicator on, "Reiko I've got a problem here." He half shouted flipping the trash bin into the air causing it to rain down on the small group of animal's that had initially shot at him, "Looks like Andrew's men know I'm here. I'm headed to the Zoness home…hopefully there's someone here on a mission already that can help me out of here. If not I'm gonna need you to send someone."

Suddenly another shot grazed the animal's right leg and as he dodged around a corner a single soldier seemed to be waiting with a small group behind him. Creed quickly reached out taking the animal by the back of the neck as he had attempted to run at the sight of the huge fox; who held him into the line of fire as his friends let a hailstorm of lead off in Creed's direction, causing his new shield to squirm and scream with each searing round that plunged into his body before Creed lobbed the corpse into the small front of animals who toppled over from the force of the body slamming into them. As Creed kept running the large animal realized that the soldiers on his tail were gaining on him, he admitted that he was larger than other foxes but, he was none to light on his feet. It was unfortunate that the animal suddenly found himself at the center of a bridge with a group of the soldiers to his right or left who all slowly moved in holding their sights on his vitals…

"Alright just put him down and get on the ground…" One of the soldiers demanded, "…this doesn't have to get any bloodier than it already is."

Creed scoffed, "Yeah right…" He replied, "…any worthless fuck willing to sell out to the walking piece of shit Andrew, is someone I can't trust."

"What are you gonna do then?" The animal asked

Creed chuckled, "Allow me to answer that with another question…" He replied, "Don't you bastards just love how silent modern day trains are?" He asked hopping backward off the bridge.

Creed's feet instantly slipped from beneath his body causing him to roll over the side of the train car he'd landed on, barely managing to catch Seven by the scruff of his robes, while sinking his metallic fingers into the roof of the car…

"Good thing you're not awake right now." He called out to his friend, "Or that could have been really embarrassing." He said looking to the soldiers, "SO LONG ASSHOLES!"

Creed quickly pulled himself up onto the roof of the train car, laying Seven on his back. He realized how deep Seven had dug them into this time. Usually it was Katt or Reiko getting them into trouble. The large vulpine simply sighed; at least there wasn't anyone to shoot at him this time…

**…****...Xenass, Red Rose Motel…...**

Krystal had finally settled down it seemed, and oddly enough actually taken advantage of the motel's room service, that is after hearing that Reiko would be covering all costs. Katt was astounded by how much the vixen was actually eating, and still managing to keep her figure. Then again she'd noticed that the vixen always had a very healthy appetite…

"You know…" Katt said looking to the vixen from across the room, "…you sure can eat for a girl with your figure."

Krystal sighed as she finished off a small bit of ham, "Cerinians burn more energy than your everyday Lylatian. Beltino explained it to me when he was studying my blood. Apparently the properties that make it possible for me to use my abilities. He said that every time I used some sort of ability, my body exerted more and more energy…" She said taking a long drink from what Katt was fairly certain was a soda of some kind, "…it doesn't take as much energy as it used to but, it still takes quite a bit out of me. It's why I was so tired after fighting that big friend of yours."

Katt chuckled, "Yeah. I'm sure Creed didn't take that too well."

Krystal sighed, "So. What's the deal with you and Reiko?"

Katt's eyes went wide before she glared at the vixen, "What the hell are you implying Krystal?"

The pale furred vixen sighed, "Don't give me that. I've seen the way you look at him, and need I remind you?" She asked tapping her claw against her forehead.

Katt sighed sitting that the small table that sat near the window of the small room, "What do you want from me?"

"I want the same thing you wanted when you pestered me all those years ago about how I felt about Fox."

Katt sighed, "Okay…yes. I think he's handsome, strong, a bit hardheaded and obnoxious sometimes but…"

Krystal sighed, "But…he treats you the way you wish Falco had. Like a person and not a liability?"

Katt lowered her head as she looked out the window, "Yeah."

Krystal shook her head, "You know I always told you that you could do a lot better than Falco." She chuckled, "By spitting out that window." She said, "I knew he was a womanizer before I even knew what the word meant. He might have been a decent enough person when you were all in high school but, people change…for him he changed for the worst."

Katt looked to the floor, "Yeah…I know. I guess I always sort of saw it. I just kept lying to myself. Telling myself that he'd go back to the way he was, but…"

The feline paused for a moment before placing a paw over her right ear, "WHAT!" She shouted, "No I understand I'll tell her."

Krystal looked a bit confused at the feline, "Tell me what?"

Katt stood up and headed for the door, "We have to leave right now." She said, "Reiko says he'll talk to you at the hanger in star port 15."

"Why are we meeting him there?" The vixen asked following Katt to the door.

Katt looked back to the white furred vixen, "Creed and Seven are both in a lot of trouble. It'll be hard for any of us to get to the planet. Reiko wants your help. He said that if you help us now, he'll help you…despite what happened with the others you killed."

Though doubtful, the white furred vixen followed the feline out of the hotel, making their way through the streets until they arrived at the dock where they'd birthed their own ship. It was there that Kursed looked to a dark gray furred coyote that stood near a small black transport vessel, who made his way toward the two of them. He looked to the vixen, which simply stared back into his eyes for a moment, showing that there would never be an ounce of fear or intimidation that he would ever pass through her; before looking to Katt. Kursed thought for a moment as she looked to the feline; Katt was refusing to look the canine in the eyes with her head turned to one side and her gaze glued to the cold floor of the hanger. She even jumped a bit as his paw touched her shoulder…

"You really worried us. You know?" He said causing her to look up at him, "Do me a favor. Never run off like that again?" He said turning to the vixen, "Krystal right?"

"Kursed…" The vixen replied, "…only my friends call me Krystal."

Reiko sighed, "Fair enough. I guess we're not what I'd call friends."

"You tried to kill me." Kursed pointed out.

Reiko shook his head, "Can you honestly blame me? After everything you did to us, do you really think that I had no right whatsoever to attack you when I was certain you were attacking Katt?"

Kursed looked away, "This isn't getting us anywhere."

"Right…" Reiko replied, "…the point is. We are the same; every single problem in our lives was caused by one small group of people. Andrew and his little fucking crew of loyal boot lickers…and right now I have two very important men on Zenass that are going to die very soon if I don't get down there and help them."

"Then why do you need me? Someone you can't even trust." Kursed asked.

Reiko sighed, "Listen. I understand that you want McCloud's killers' heart on a silver platter." He said, "Believe it or not so do I. Without him Creed and I never would have made it out of Andrew's little prison when he turned on us. It's funny, we planned on turning on him first…we were false double agents working for the Cornerian council, but, shit got deep. We had to react as quickly as possible and in the end…Andrew just proved to be a better strategist than we were." He said, "I need you, because you have been the first one to kill one of them in the past two years. You can read minds and manipulate thoughts, plus you took down Creed without getting yourself killed. That's gotta count for something."

Kursed looked to Katt, then to Reiko, before finally looking to her ship and activating her personal communicator, "Lin…you can come out of there now."

It only took a minute or so before the gangplank lowered allowing the young panda to walk out before it retracted closing off the only entrance to the ship. She quickly made her way over to the three in the middle of the place. Krystal pulled the young panda out in front of her placing her paws on Lin's shoulders…

"I'll go with you…but, Katt informed me that Lucy Hare is with you…"

Reiko looked to Katt before looking back to the vixen, "Yeah she is."

"Call her here and have her take Lin someplace safe." Kursed responded, "Then we can leave."

Reiko sighed, "Alright then." He said looking to a small communicator of his own, "Eight, get to the hanger at Emmerson and 33rd. I've got a job for you."

It wasn't long before the pink furred lapin showed up to retrieve the panda; she took her time to hug greet her old friend, and express her distaste for the plain color she'd dyed her once sapphire blue fur. It was a brief reunion


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: **_Hey everyone! Just got chapter ten done, hope you all enjoy it. I'll have another chapter up sometime soon. Thanks for the support and don't forget to R&R...^_^  
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_The Footsteps in the Darkness ~ SkullFox_

_Frag the weak, Hurdle the dead ~ Mykll

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**Chapter 10:_ The face of the Enemy_…...**

**…...****Zoness...…**

Creed burst though the door of an underground facility; a small place not familiar to very many animals at all. The large bulkhead door that he swung open marked with a large V with a spread pair of wings. It was a division of people that once worked with the Wraiths that now called themselves Valkyrie. Quite a relevant name actually as it turned out every member of this particular sect was female. Luckily at least two of the members that called this place home actually stayed in contact with the Wraiths. It was as he rushed inside laying the beaten and bloodied Fox in his arms on a nearby sofa that a familiar looking feline entered the room rubbing her eyes. Her fur was dark orange with black stripes and dark blue eyes, she wore a single thick golden hoop through one ear. At the moment she wore a red tee shirt, a bit too big for her, and a pair of tight spandex shorts that she clearly used for sleeping attire…

"Creed?" She asked, "What the hell are you doing here? This place isn't safe."

Creed looked to the feline, "Miyu…come here." He winced, crumbling to one knee as his arm went to his side.

The Lynx quickly rushed over examining a bleeding wound that gushed blood out over the vulpine's metallic paw, "Holy shit you're really bleeding all over the place…who…" She began as she turned to the injured animal laying on the sofa, "Oh…my god."

Creed quickly jerked the feline down toward him, "Don't say a word."

She looked to Creed then back to the injured animal, "Is that…who I think it is?"

Creed stood up growling in pain, "Yeah…" He replied, "…look just get this bullet out of my side and I'll explain everything alright?"

Miyu had trouble holding back her tears, it'd taken her so long to consider the fact that Fox McCloud was dead, and now he was laying in a bloody heap in her team's living room…

"Creed I need someone to take care of him…" She said hitting a button to a PA system on the wall as they entered the Lynx's room, "Chloe, get your ass to the living room right now! It's an emergency!"

It took little time before Creed found himself looking out of the room at a young, attractive skunk that hung over Fox wiping away at his injuries, making certain that he wasn't bleeding too horribly. Her fur was a light platinum color, housing a bluish gray shine, while the white stripe that arched up her fluffy tails, traveled up her spine ending as it vanished into the white of her muzzle. Her light green eyes seemed to look on the animal with worry…

"Chloe's a good medic she'll take care of him." Miyu said as she showed Creed the bloody bullet that the forceps in her paw held, before dismissing it to a small tray, "So…you gonna tell me what the fuck this is all about? Cuz I'd really like to know why there's a man in my living room that's been dead for three years."

Creed gasped in pain as the lynx began to bandage the wound, "He was never dead…in fact without him; me and Reiko would be."

"I can see that…" Miyu chuckled, "…without him a lot of people'd be dead."

"That's not what I mean…" Creed said keeping his eyes out on the animal being tended to by Chloe, "…you recall the job don't you?"

Miyu sighed, "How could I forget? It was why I left the wraiths."

Creed grunted in pain as the Lynx tightened his bandages, "The job was more than we wanted to say. We were hired by the Cornerian alliance before that; hired to take out whatever remnants of Andross's forces there were. Andrew was working behind the scenes, we never even realized it. Reiko was pretty quick to strike up a deal with Andrew, he wanted Star Fox out of the way." He said taking a small breath through his teeth as Miyu rubbed something on his wound, "You know how Reiko is with his plans; he decided that if we took Andrew's job and brought Fox McCloud to the new emperor. He figured that if we got that close, we'd have the opportunity to attack him…but, we were wrong. Andrew plotted us out. He was smarter than we gave him credit for. He had an inside man, we're still not fully sure who it is. When we approached Andrew, we were instead ambushed by his little group of loyal ass kissers. Wolf O'Donnell, Panther Caruso, Leon Powalski, and a few other animals that joined them more recently. We were attacked and thrown into the prison." He sighed, "It was odd but, in the time that it took for both me and Reiko to come to…McCloud already had the door opened somehow. When we ran he took a bullet for Me, the other two hit my arms." He said patting each of his metal forearms, "Severe nerve damage. They needed to be replaced. When we finally made it out of there; McCloud went into this fit of depression, until he went back to his old base alone one night. Something he saw there or did changed him. He came back and demanded that we let him join the Wraiths. Started hunting down just about any important member of Andrew's army. Made me and Reiko promise that we wouldn't tell anyone that he was actually Seven. That way he could hide under you guys's noses and keep an eye on you all, while he got back at those fuckers for taking his life away."

Miyu held her paw over her mouth, "That's why Seven saved me, and Lucy, and Katt. He…he came to save us all. So that he wouldn't loose anyone else."

Creed thought for a moment, "Yeah. And now we've got a bigger problem." He said, "he's gone and picked a fight with the Angle of Death. Kursed herself has been hunting him down. Nearly killed me too…she fights like some sort of demon."

Miyu stood up leaning against the wall near the door, "That's not good, I heard she turned in 160 top wanted bounties across the entire Trinity Accord, in less than one year. Something about her using some kind of mind power; three of her old victims are confined to mental illness facilities. One of them she hypnotized or something when she was angry; he's been deemed completely blind, but, his eyes are perfectly fine, his mind just doesn't register his sense of sight anymore, another she just touched on the back of the neck, he's now registered as a terminal quadriplegic…no feeling below his neck."

Creed sighed, "Yeah. Same shit she used on me. I'm not sure what the fuck she did, but, she slapped my shoulders and my arms stopped working for about eight hours." He said, "Well that's not important now though. Reiko's on his way to get me and Fox out of here…but, you listen to me. Nobody outside of me and you is to hear this."

"Why?" Miyu asked.

"Think about it…" Creed replied, "…how fast will Andrew come at us if he finds that we've got McCloud in our ranks? There'd be no stopping him…he'd wash over us like a typhoon, and there'd be nothing left. Right now we're just a minor annoyance, but, with Fox McCloud…we're a legit threat."

"Well you two can wait here." Miyu said, "just be careful around Chloe she's got a slight problem with hitting on…well just about anything that moves."

Creed looked out into the living room where the attractive you skunk waved to him, "Good to know."

All that was left to do was wait; Miyu sent out a scout to keep an eye on the soldiers that patrolled the streets. While Creed sat back and watched Fox, who so far showed no signs of waking up…

**...… …...**

A pale furred vixen stepped out of the small hanger that led to the small Zonessian city; the temperate climate of this area of the planet mixed with the early morning hours caused her white fur to stand out against the moisture in the air. She'd only been to Zoness once really, years ago when she was still a member of Star Fox. The place wasn't in much better shape now, there were plumes of dark smoke that rose from different areas above the city's high rise. The campfires of the homeless towering up from between the buildings, if she had to say so this city was far worse off than Kew City. The streets were dark, the fog was thick, and she could tell by the scent in the air that something was coming. She looked to the pink feline and gray coyote that both stepped out of the hanger…

"There's a storm coming." The vixen pointed out.

Katt sighed, "Yep. That's home for you, wether's never what is should be. Zoness is about as temperamental as any female ever was."

Reiko laughed, "I hope you're not including yourself in that mix." He replied, "Cuz trust me. Everyone's seen you when you're in heat, you're a bit more than temperamental."

Kursed chuckled, "He's right you know." She said, "There was that one time you nearly bit Fox and Slippy's heads both off."

"Hey!" Katt protested, "I had a headache and they would turn that god damned music down. I'd have been pissed even if I weren't…look can we just stop talking about this? There are more important matters as hand. Like finding Creed alive."

The white vixen chuckled, "Katt…just remember that, anywhere we go, you cannot call me by my real name. If Andrew or his men get word of it, they'll come down on me hard. I don't think that would help your cause very much at all."

Reiko sighed as he thought for a moment, "Listen…Kursed. I want to apologize for…you know…trying to kill you and all. In my defense I really did think you were attacking Katt though."

"Forget it…it's in the past." The vixen said heading out into the streets.

Katt stayed behind looking to Reiko with slight disbelief, "You…you thought she was gonna kill me." She said, "She took out Creed. You knew she could kill you."

Reiko sighed a bit as he headed out after Kursed, "Yeah…I know."

As he walked the feline's paw pulled his shoulder causing him to stop, "Why? Why would you do something that stupid?"

Reiko took a deep breath, "I really think we should catch up with Kursed before she leaves us behind."

Though she had no idea where it was she was going, Kursed headed out into the streets and stood on the sidewalk's edge, looking to the skies as light raindrops began to fall. Even against her will, the sights here, and the rains brought her back to the one time that she'd been here before, with Fox. She saved his life here keeping him from being shot. Of course him being shot at wasn't her most favorite memory, the fact that it was one of the first times he actually smiled at her. She'd decided that day that she had feelings for him, feelings that she knew she couldn't tell him of, she also had no intention of relaying to Fox that Falco had protested to her ever saying anything to her captain and leader about her feelings, she couldn't help but wonder why. She sighed a bit as Katt approached her…

"Hey what'cha thinkin' about?"

The vixen sighed through her nose, "Nothing…let's just go."

"You got it." Reiko replied, "This way come on."

The coyote led the two ladies through the streets; Kursed wasn't sure exactly where it was Reiko was leading her, but, thanks to the fact that she was with them there was less and less chance of her being attacked. She liked the idea of not being attacked, but, unfortunately she was certain that this wasn't going to last. The vixen simply followed beside Reiko with Katt at his other side before Kursed moved ahead of them. In an instant however the pale furred vixen stepped to one side into an alleyway causing the two to fallow after her. They both found themselves pinned to a wall, by the vixen whom held her finger over her lips for a moment…

"Keep it down." She warned them.

There was a moment before three animals rushed by, each bearing a large automatic rifle. As they passed by Reiko looked to Kursed, who simply nodded, before looking to Katt…

"Why can't you do that?" He chuckled.

Katt glowered at the coyote, "Hey it was just a joke." He replied throwing his paws up defensively.

"If we're going there we'd better get there soon." Kursed said, "According to the wolf in that group. There's a whole platoon of soldiers in this area. I can keep us out of sight but, I've never kept a group our size charmed for very long."

Reiko thought for a moment, "Charmed?" He asked.

Kursed sighed, "Cerinians used to call it Charming the mind. A powerful enough telepath could convince another mind that he or she was not there, in that respect we become invisible to that person's sight."

Reiko thought for a moment, "How many minds can you block out at once?"

"When I first came to Corneria…" She started, "…I managed to hide myself inside a ballroom. Fox said there were just over six thousand in the area."

Reiko scratched his chin, "Are you telling me that you can just vanish from sight."

For an instant Reiko's eyes met the vixen's and there was a pang of pain in the back of his mind, and as he blinked however, the blurred form of the vixen in front of him vanished…

"Okay…" He said feeling around, "…I'm convi…huh?" He wondered as his paws met something.

Suddenly something very solid met his cheek slamming him against the wall behind him, Kursed quickly reappeared with her arms crossed over her chest, glaring at him intensely…

"Sorry…" Reiko said, "…I really didn't mean to. I thought you'd moved."

"Ever touch me like that again…" The vixen said quickly bringing the point of her scythe to his throat.

"I…get the point…" He said looking to the weapon, "literally. Can you please get that thing away from me now?"

Kursed sighed shaking her head as she put her weapon away, "Sorry…I think I just overreacted a bit."

Katt noted as the vixen walked a short distance away, she'd changed a lot over the course of three years, and not just in the sense of the fact that she had actually dyed her beautiful blue fur white. It was more the sense that she didn't seem to care anymore…the Krystal she knew had told her how terrible it was for a telepath to take a life. It meant feeling that person's last moments for herself; their fear and pain…

"You're still feeling it aren't you?" Katt asked as the vixen suddenly stopped, "You know. It wasn't your fault, you didn't have much of a choice. If you haven't killed Verra, she definitely would have killed you."

Kursed pounded her fist against the wall next to her, "It's not about Verra. That bitch got what she deserved…it's about this guy from your group…Seven." She said, "I've been trying to get him out of my head but…I can't. There are so few people that I can't read, it just disturbs me when I find one."

Reiko thought for a moment, "How may people like that have you met before?"

The vixen sighed as she lowered her head, "Three. The first was on Cerinia, my father was always so calm and relaxed that, his thoughts were never opened to anyone. The second was…Fox…I have no idea why but, his mind was always shut out to my abilities, even when I knew he was opening up to me, his mind was completely blank."

"What about me?" Katt quickly asked.

Kursed chuckled, "No offense, but, your mind doesn't exactly have powerful defenses Katt."

The feline sighed, "None taken." She replied, "however, I do think we should save this chat for later on, when we're off the streets."

"Good point…" Kursed replied, "…us I can hide, our voices not so much."

Again Reiko led the way, a bit more silently this time, but, a bit more out in the open since he'd learned that Kursed could keep them from being spotted. The pale furred vixen was amazed at just how far into the city this base was; most bases like this were posted around the outer rim of the city to make for an easier get away just in case the place is discovered. Eventually their way led to a flight of stairs that hooked back into itself sending the group three stories down, before leading to a bulkhead door in the side of a small building. Reiko knelt down in front of the door removing a small portion of the stone floor at his feet, this revealed a small number pad. He pressed a series of buttons which caused the door to make a loud metallic, hollow sound before he replaced the floor piece. He pushed open the door and stepped inside allowing the two females to follow behind him…

"Shouldn't we be a little more careful about this?" Kursed asked.

Reiko sighed, "Even if someone found that pad; thanks to friends there is little to no chance of them discovering the code sequence. They'd have to have inside information."

Kursed sighed, "So then…who's all a part of this Valkyrie group in the first place?"

Katt chuckled, "Well…for starters Miyu, and Fay." She smiled as Krystal looked to her, "Miyu and Reiko had a difference of opinions almost two years ago…she ended up leaving."

Their short walk led them down a long corridor, through which Kursed noticed several cameras that were watching them. It was after going through another large metal door that she saw a large room laid out in front of her. It was dark, bathed only in a dim light that didn't help much at all. As they walked in she noted the place definitely had Miyu's fashion sense; it was bland, and undecorated with little in the way of furniture, spare two large chairs and a small sofa. It was as the white vixen sniffed the air that she drew closer to the sofa wiping up a small spot of blood which she brought to her nose…

"_Funny…"_ She thought to herself, _"…smells kind of familiar."_

"Somebody was bleeding pretty heavily here." She pointed out, looking to a small trail of blood that led into the room.

"Two people…" A familiar voice caused her to look to a familiar looking Lynx, "Mind if I ask what the fuck she's doing here?"

"It's a long story but, in short she's with us." Reiko replied, "Where's Creed?"

Miyu sighed walking into the room, "Sleeping, him and Seven were pretty messed up when Creed carried Seven in here. Looked like someone beat the hell outta Seven, while I had to dig a bullet outta the big guy's side. He's lucky the shot missed his kidney." The lynx paused as she noted the white vixen's look at her, "What the hell are you staring at?"

Katt stepped forward, "You don't recognize her do you Miyu?" She asked, "I don't blame you I didn't at first either…just look at her eyes."

Miyu sighed, Katt had always been a trusted friend to her; she did as the pink furred feline asked and looked the vixen in the eyes. There was something inexplicably familiar about those incredibly light blue eyes, like they were staring right into her, piercing her mind and soul. It was a feeling she only really recalled from one place, and that was when she'd first met…

"Krystal?" She finally gasped leaning in to examine the vixen's face.

The vixen only looked to the ground, nodding lightly. The feline quickly reached out wrapping her arms around the vixen, pinning her arms to her sides…

"I can't believe you're alive." She said pushing her back to arm's length, "What did you do to your beautiful fur?"

Kursed sighed, "It was necessary at the time. I needed to die or they'd come after me as soon as I showed my face again."

Miyu thought for a moment, "And what's all this Angel of Death crap I keep hearing about? You can't tell me you're actually enjoying having people call you that."

The vixen looked to the ground, "It doesn't matter anymore does it? The team's gone, I'm the only one alive; where else can I go? What else can I do?" She said, "I'm going to find the real people that killed Fox and the others, and I'm gonna show them what fear and pain really mean. Because I promise you that by the time I finish with them, they will beg me to kill them."

Miyu sighed as she turned finding a seat, "I preferred the vixen that was too shy to tell one of my closest friends that she had a crush on him."

The pale vixen turned around, "Well…she died when he did." She said walking back out into the city.

Miyu started after her only to have Reiko grab her arm, "She'll be fine. They have no reason to hunt her down right now. They're after us. Plus she has…methods of staying out of sight."

The lynx quickly turned shoving Reiko, causing him to stumble into a far wall, "Why haven't you told her yet?" She demanded.

Katt was quickly to rush to the coyote's side, "What the hell are you talking about?"

Miyu looked to Katt with a shocked expression, "Oh I can't believe you're such a fucking hypocrite." She huffed, "All that bullshit all those years about never lying to the team…and you didn't even tell Katt. What kind of a heartless bastard are you? You see what this is doing to Krystal, and you're not even trying to do anything about it."

"What the hell can I do!" Reiko shouted.

"You could start by telling her the fucking truth…" The lynx tried her hardest not to scream in Reiko's face, "…you can start with Katt. You know, since you've always trusted her so much. Go ahead Reiko tell her what you and Creed have been hiding right under her nose this whole time."

Katt looked to Miyu with a questioning look for a moment, she'd never known the lynx to get this emotional, "Reiko what is she talking about?"

"I can't…" The coyote replied.

Katt quickly placed a paw on each side of his face, making him look her in the eyes, "Reiko…what…is she talking about?"

Reiko pulled away from the feline and walked to the other side of the room, "Seven…there's a reason why he came after you, and Lucy, and Miyu, and Fay…"

"Yeah because Fox told him to if anything happened to him." She said looking to Miyu who simply folded her arms over her chest and looked to the ground with a sigh, "Right?"

Reiko sighed deeply as he rested a paw on the metal wall, "No. Seven came after you because…because he is McCloud…he made us promise not to tell…anyone."

Reiko closed his eyes tightly against the sound of the metal door slamming shut as Katt rushed out of the room. Reiko sighed as he felt Miyu's paw on his back, "You know you couldn't go forever without saying something. If you had she never would have forgiven you. You did that right thing."

Reiko finally stood up looking over his shoulder, "Then why do I fell like so low?"

**…... …...**

The feline rushed out into the streets, she knew where she could find her friend, in her current state the vixen had become far too used to being up in the rooftops looking down on whatever pray it was she was hunting. It didn't take her long to find the vixen either, up high atop the building that Miyu's small family called home; so much more than twenty stories up. It was as Katt stepped out onto the rooftop that she noted this particular building had clearly been under construction, as there was no roof here, and it looked as if the structure was meant to be built quite a bit higher than it actually was. Along the edge of one of the massive steel beams that held the structure together, the white vixen sat looking down over the city, not bothering to even take note to the rain. Kursed was already well aware that the feline was there, she simply didn't bother to say anything…

"You know Miyu didn't mean anything by what she said down there…" The feline said approaching the vixen and sitting beside her, "…she always was a little too forward."

The vixen sighed, "Yeah, I know. I guess I just have to learn how to let this all go…move on with my life. I just can't." She said turning to the Katt with tears in her eyes, "It's not fair…I…I never even got to tell Fox how I felt. I still feel like I failed somehow."

Katt was shocked for a moment as the vixen lay her head on her shoulder, this caused Katt to wrap her arm around the vixen, "Well…" She wasn't sure why she could say it, "…listen, they never found Fox's body right? Andrew SAID that Fox was dead, there's no guarantee that he's dead. Right?"

The vixen rubbed her eyes against Katt's wet fur, "I've kept telling myself that for all these years, but, no matter how hard I search, I can't find him. Him or any signs of him…it's like he just completely vanished."

Katt finally wiped her own tears from her eyes and pushed the vixen from her shoulder looking her in the eyes….

"Krystal listen…it's about Fox…he…."

Her words were cut off and the vixen quickly put her paw over Katt's mouth, and looked down below them. Suddenly the vixen pulled Katt with her laying down as a single knife soared over them barely missing the vixen's nose. She rolled off of her back and onto her feet spinning in place. Her paw released something that Katt could not place, as a small gleam shot out striking at an animal wearing a robe very similar to the Wraiths. Whatever kind of animal he was he was keeping it well hidden as his robes concealed any particulars of his species; however, as the animal stood there certain that Kursed's attack had missed, he readied a pair of small curved knives…

"You're the bastard that killed Slippy." Kursed growled.

As Kursed bolstered her scythe, a light gust of wind blue through the unfinished floor of the building, causing the gust to tug at the assassin's hood. Kursed's attack showed that it was nearly on mark, as a fine split in the top of his hood caused the fabric to slip down around his head in two separate pieces. Katt instantly slapped her paws over her mouth, while the vixen's expression simply twisted into an expression of extreme hatred. Katt couldn't believe her eyes, Krystal had fingered her as being the one she'd watched kill Slippy. The assassin's head was that of an avian with dark blue fathers, large round patches of red circled his light Azure eyes…

"Falco?" Katt gasped.

Looking to the pink feline, the side of the bird's beak curled, "Hey Kitty how ya been?"


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N:**_ Hey there everyone. Hope you enjoy the new chapter, sorry if it cuts off a bit prematurely, but, the next chapter is nearly done so it should be finished and posted really soon. Thanks again to **Mykll** for his help, and a new friend **Jamie **for the addition of her personal character. Thanks for the tons of support, so R&R and take care...the next chappie should be up soon...Cya..._

_The Footsteps in the Darkness ~ SkullFox_

_Frag the weak, Hurdle the dead ~ Mykll_

_Back doors to problems lead to better results and hidden treasures ~ Jamie

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**Chapter 11: Vindication Part 1…**

The pale furred vixen still stood there, she had her suspicions that it could be Falco that had done all of this. When she'd first met him, his mind was scattered, and his thoughts were only of himself, even then she knew that the bird had many unresolved issues in his life. It was as she stood there that he kept his gun poised on Kursed's face, as she was the only other animal there holding a weapon of any kind. The rain had worsened, slowly developing into a torrential downpour. It was as she looked into the bird's eyes that he chuckled to himself…

"I gotta hand it to you Blue…" He said, "…I was pretty sure that you were already dead. But, the Angel of Death, never saw that one coming. Fox was right you really are something."

The vixen stomped down, "DON'T YOU DARE SAY THEIR NAMES!" She screamed, "You don't have the right to say anything about them."

"Oh really?" The bird asked shrugging with his free hand, "I spent most of my life with those guys…"

"And you killed them…" She replied, "…why?"

"Why?" Falco chuckled, "You're the telepath you tell me. You tell me why it is that, as soon as you came around…everyone just stopped caring? You knew that Fox was about to drop the team? Just so he could run off with you and ignore everything we ever worked for. My only family, and he was gonna abandon me…for some bitch with her tail in the air. I know what females can do to you…he was better off dead. The old man, he would have fingered me as soon as you came up dead, Slippy…well that little fucker was a little more ballsy than I gave him credit for."

A tear trailed down the vixen's face, "You…because Fox wanted to be happy? You killed everyone because he didn't want to die the way his father did?"

"What's this all matter to you anyhow?" He asked, "As soon as it all happened…you fucking disappeared. Three god damned years, you left all your friends to just stay behind and defend themselves. Even right now I bet you're thinking about leaving Katt up here to die, to save your own ass."

"I'm not like you Falco." Kursed replied, "you're a coward…I'm not. All you've ever done is attack people from behind. You were always jealous of Fox because you could never beat him…that was the only reason you ever stuck around. That's what kept pulling you back, being second best…well I have news for you. Dead or alive, Fox will always be better than you. You'll never be better than the piece of shit you are right now."

A bolt of red shot from the barrel of Falco's weapon; Kursed had suspected that he was going to shoot. Her best chance was to make certain she was hit somewhere non-vital. As the shot tore into her shoulder, the vixen spun falling to the ground before rolling over the edge of the still unfinished floor. In that moment Katt rushed on the bird, her claws tore the feathers away from four smalls streaks in his cheek that caused him to yell in pain as he brought the handle of his weapon down on the feline's shoulder. The impact to the cluster of nerves he'd aimed for instantly caused the pink furred feline to go limp as she fell to the wet floor. Falco held a wing over his cheek as he walked to the ledge of the unfinished floor, where the vixen was hanging by her one arm. She wanted as her scythe slipped from her grip falling back to the ground far below. The avian rose his heavy boot to bring it down on her delicate fingers, only to quickly let out a surprised yell as he vixen's other paw swung up pulling him over the ledge. Kursed screamed out as the bird's weight was added to her own, as he quickly reached out catching her by the legs on his way down. Kursed was forced to reach up grasping at a metal stud that protruded from the building to keep her from falling. She looked back over her shoulder, and managed to wrench one of her legs free which she quickly brought up driving her heel between the bird's eyes. Falco let out a scream of pain as he released her leg…however, the vixen's sudden scream shot through the rooftops of the building as she felt the bird's weight jerk at the base of her tail. She instantly felt as if her entire body would give out as the crippling pain shot there up her spine. She tried to kick him off this time but, the avian had a much better grip than before; and he slowly began to drag himself up her body until he finally pulled himself back up onto the ledge of the building. Falco quickly reached for his blaster which had fallen to the ground as he was pulled over the ledge. As he turned to fire though, he noticed that the vixen was no longer there. Looking over the edge of the building the bird sighed…

"Dumb bitch…" He said looking back to Katt before reaching a communicator up to his face, "Everyone be on the lookout for a body down there. White fur, vixen, about five foot six maybe five seven. Dead or alive I want the body."

**…... …...**

The white vixen fell rapidly giving her little time to think before she reached behind her back; as she reached back out in front of her a small object fired a wire with a weighted end around another beam protruding from the building. The cable instantly took her weight snapping taught swinging the vixen into a stone wall. This caused her to release the device in her paw, and Kursed managed to fall into a small pile of trash bins in the alleyway. She landed with a sudden yelp of pain. Had it been any higher she would have broken something, she was lucky at the moment she had only swung to about two stories off the ground. She noticed her scythe laying a short ways away, but as she lay there with her arm over her ribs she noticed an armored soldier standing over her with a rifle in her face. His helmet had been removed some time ago; the black furred wolf seemed stunned as his eyes washed over blue for a moment…

"She's not here…" Kursed whispered.

The wolf placed is paw over his ear, "I'm sorry sir. The alleyway's clear. I can't find her or the weapon."

Kursed winced in pain, "It looks like she escaped to the sewers."

"It looks like she escaped into the sewers, sir."

"Then get back and help get the prisoners back to HQ…" Falco's voice responded.

"Yes sir." The wolf replied walking over and picking up the scythe before laying it in Kursed's paw.

The wolf quickly rushed back to join the others, and soon enough, Kursed was the only one left in the alleyway…battered, bloody…and once again, completely alone. She hadn't even gotten the information that she'd needed from Reiko. Stumbling, and half conscious, the vixen slowly made her way to the small base; at the moment she couldn't sense anything inside at all. Everyone was gone. Reiko, Miyu and both teams were gone. She stumbled through the small base with her paw over the blaster wound in her shoulder, before the vixen finally fell to one knee. She shook her head attempting to clear her blurry vision but, with a few more breaths her eyes finally rolled into the back of her head, and the vixen fell to the floor…

**... ...**

A young light red furred vixen stepped under an awning covering a small portion of the sidewalk fighting to get her mangled umbrella to fold up. Growling in anger the vixen finally threw the thing down kicking it out into the streets…

"Piece of crap!" She half shouted, "Next time I steal a brand name."

With a sigh she reached behind her head to pull the hood of her coat up over her long sanguine hair. She pulled her coat tightly around her before heading back out. Luckily home was not a great distance from her current position, however, this part of Zoness was not exactly a safe environment for a young woman to travel at night. A raggedy looking rat stepped out of an alley wrapping an arm around her neck holding a blade to her throat…

"Gimme yer wallet." He hissed.

The vixen's eyes instantly came to a water, the smell of hard liquor from his breath was enough to kill. Suddenly however, there was a light click and the rat's eyes went wide causing him to pull his weapon away from her neck. She slowly turned to face him, and the rat swallowed hard as his eyes went to the large pistol pressed against his crotch…

"I have a better idea…" The vixen smiled, "…gimme _your_ wallet."

The rat used his free paw to rummage through is pockets before passing the vixen a small folded bunch of leather which she quickly opened, "Credit card, credit card, social…" She paused as she examined it only to look at him for a moment, "…federal breast inspectors card? And…two, five…ten credits. You are pathetic." She said removing the knife from his other paw, "I'll take that…" As she did so her eyes went to something she'd not noticed yet, a golden watch around the animal's other wrist, "…hmmm. Nice watch. I'll take that too thanks." After removing his watch the vixen looked it over, "Hmm…too big for me. Kinda shiny though, might be worth something." She said looking to the rat, "The hell are you still doing here? Leave."

As the rat ran off stumbling over his own feet, the vixen placed the animal's knife and watch in her pocket. It seemed like every time she went out someone wanted to take advantage of the pretty little vixen. She reached under her long coat holstering her pistol before pulling her coat tightly around her again and continuing down the street. It was as she made her way through the seldom traveled alleyway that lead home that the vixen's nose twitched against the air, and she quickly flattened herself against the wall nearest to her; in an instant both paws were filled with a large pistol each; they were silver colored with squared barrels and pearl grips, they were her babies, both stolen of course but, that didn't make her love them any less. She took a moment to peak around the corner, she was familiar enough with the scent of blood to pick it up when it was this thick, and it was coming from her home. The fiery furred vixen rushed toward the stairs that led down to the large metal door housing a large pained V; the door was half way open. She slowly stuck her head inside…

"Miyu!" She called, "Chloe?"

When she wasn't answered the vixen stepped inside only to find the place in shambles, "Fay! Miyu! Chloe! Jane!" She shouted rushing through the ruined base, "Anyone! Wha…..AHHHH!" She cut herself off in a startled scream as her leg struck something sending her to the floor.

The vixen instantly shot around aiming her weapon, whatever she'd tripped over it was something living. As she saw the white furred vixen laying face down on the floor she noticed the small hole in her shoulder, and the large golden shafted scythe laying next to her. The sanguine haired vixen's eyes instantly fixed on the scythe…

"Wait a minute…" She said looking back to the vixen, "…white fur, scythe. Holy shit this is Kursed!" She shouted rolling the vixen over on her back causing Kursed to cry out in pain, "Hey what happened here?"

"They took everyone…" The pale vixen replied with a hiss of pain.

"God dammit." The red furred vixen swore tossing her coat off, "Hang on. I'll be right back."

The vixen rushed off before returning with a small white box, she lightly slapped Krused's face a bit to get her attention, "Hey. Come on don't pass out. You go into shock there's not much I can do to help."

"I'm not going into shock…" Kursed replied, "…I'm just…in a lot of pain. Who are you anyhow?"

"Me?" The red furred vixen asked flicking the end of a syringe, "I live here."

Kursed hissed at the sting of a needle near her wound, "I came here with a man…named Akuba…"

"Reiko?" The young vixen asked, "The hell did he want?"

Kursed leaned her head back, "Long story. His buddy Seven got messed up pretty bad, his other friend Creed came to get him. Andrew's men tracked 'em down. Reiko asked me to come and help. We were attacked not long after we got here though…"

Suddenly the vixen held up a small green tablet between her black furred fingers, "Know what this is?"

Kursed only nodded…

"Good cuz these things hurt like hell."

Kursed suddenly let out a scream of pain as the red vixen jammed a the small thing into her wound followed by her finger forcing it down as far into the hole as she could. There was a light crack sound, and Kursed continued to cry out in pain as a green film began to seep out of the wound, quickly hardening sealing off any still bleeding areas…

"You're Kursed aren't you?" The young vixen asked.

Kursed was still breathing hard from the application of the small capsule, "Yeah." She said sitting up slowly, she took a moment to poke the hardened green material, "it's been forever since I needed a 'Puss Pack'…I've forgotten how helpful they can be."

The red furred vixen sighed, "Well…I guess it's nice to meet you." She said extending her paw, "name's Jamie DeDarma…and I'm a member of Miyu's little resistance group."

Kursed slowly climbed to her feet using her scythe to keep her balanced, "Well…everyone's been captured now." She replied walking off.

"Then where are you going?" Jamie asked.

Kursed sighed, "I guess I'm going to pull Reiko's ass out of the fire. After all they have Katt…she's the only friend I have left, I'm not gonna let them kill her."

Jamie sighed, "Then you know where Andrew's men took them?"

"No…" Kursed replied.

"Good thing for you I happen to gather information for a living…" She paused, "…amongst other things." She said, "There's no real Headquarters here for the Emperor's military but…I do know that there's an old military compound outside of the city that they use for meetings. I have to go save my friends too you know; they're the only family I have. I even know how I can get into the base."

The pale furred vixen turned to Jamie, "How?"

"I have my secrets." Jamie replied, "My question is…can I trust you? You are a Bounty Hunter after all."

Kursed sighed, "If I were here to collect on your friend or Reiko's….do you think I'd be laying here with blaster hole in my shoulder?" She replied, "No. I'd be dead…or we'd all be gone cuz I would have already turned 'em all in. Not to mention the fact that I would have already arrested you…I've got my own personal issues about all of this."

Kursed looked over her shoulder into the young vixen's emerald green eyes for a moment; it took her no time at all to learn that Jamie was telling her the truth. In fact if she didn't know any better she'd have sworn the vixen knew what it was she was doing at that moment. She hadn't bothered to look before, but, Kursed noticed that the young vixen was not very well built in comparison to the others; her upper body was very petite, though her arms did seem to carry a bit of tone to them. Her legs were however rather impressive, it was clear that a good kick from her could possibly ruin someone's day. She carried herself like a lady, but, she wore a white tee shirt and slightly tight fitting black pants, and a pair of black boots that reached halfway up her thighs. A thick leather belt around her waist held a pair of archaic pistols at her sides; and thought most didn't notice, Kursed was instantly aware of the daggers hidden in her boots…

Kursed sighed, "Alright. Then what's your plan?"

Jamie sighed as she picked up a black coat before cinching it around her waist, "Well first off we need to get to the compound."

Kursed headed out of the building with Jamie following directly behind her; Jamie wondered why it was that the bounty hunter would walk around in the freezing rain without so much as a coat to keep her warm but, didn't really bother. Their walk forced them to stick to the alleys, most of the time it was the easiest way to stay hidden, completely out of sight. The two vixens kept their path only stopping every so often, until Kursed snatched Jamie by the arm yanking her back into an alley and hiding the both of them behind a nearby Dumpster, only to have three soldiers walk by…

"They're still looking for me." Kursed sighed.

Jamie looked to her, "What did you do to them?"

Kursed sighed, "A few days ago I…might have killed one of Andrew's generals."

"Wow…" Jamie replied, "…what made 'em let their guard down?"

Kursed chuckled, "Seven…"

"Why doesn't that surprise me?" Jamie said, "Why is it that every time someone dies somewhere that guy isn't far behind?"

Kursed shrugged, "Not sure…maybe he's just that unlucky." He said, "Alright come on."

The two continued their path, which seemed to get much easier as they left the city, traveling along a small stretch of road leading to a large building in the distance. Now that they were safe enough, Jamie looked to Kursed…

"So…" She said, "…where you from?"

The white furred vixen sighed, "It doesn't exist anymore."

"Oh…" Jamie replied, "…sorry."

"Don't be…" Kursed said pushing a branch out of her way, "…I don't really remember much about home. I just remember the forests. Most recently I just lived in my ship, but, before that I lived on Corneria."

Jamie chuckled, "Hmmm…you know your voice sounds familiar…only really ever heard a voice like yours from that girl Star Fox picked up about four years ago."

Kursed stopped for a moment looking to the ground, "Yeah, well that was a long time ago." She said, "I didn't know a whole lot when they found me. Apparently my planet was pretty underdeveloped compared to Lylat."

"So you were Fox McCloud's sweetheart?"

Kursed scoffed, "Fucking tabloids…there was never anything between me and Fox. I guess we were both just too shy to say anything. I wish I had." She finished.

"So you never even flirted with him?"

Kursed chuckled, "Back then I didn't even know what that meant…but, now that I look back on it, I probably did without realizing it."

"That sux," Jamie replied, "I've never really bothered with relationships myself…always seemed like it'd just get in my way. I don't even remember where I was born, far as I know Zoness is the only home I've ever had. The girls in Valkyrie have always been there for me…I figure, for now at least, that's all I really need."

Even though she knew the vixen was lying about her past, Kursed decided not to pry, everyone needed their privacy, and this was imply Jamie's way of preserving hers. After so long wondering through the thick countryside, Jamie and Kursed stopped on one side of an old back road across from a large structure. It looked a lot like the military compound back on Corneria. Star Fox had plenty of meetings there to discuss strategy and missions with the commanding General of the army at the time. She doubted that this place was much different after all they were both build by the same military. It was as she stood there that Jamie knelt down with a stick in her paw…

"Okay…" She said drawing a squared figure in the dirt, "…I've been inside the fences before. There's an electrified defense wire around the perimeter. It's hidden so that if you try going over the wall, you won't see it until you've already touched it." She said pointing out a small section, "Over here in the eastern quarter of the place…this is where a bunch of guards like to gather to shirk their duties and gamble."

"Good help is really hard to find when they're underpaid." Kursed replied shaking her head.

"Tell me about it…" Jamie chuckled pointing to the southwest corner of the figure, "…every time I've been here there's been a guard sleeping against that tree." She said pointing to a tall tree peaking over the wall, "…he's a lazy SOB but, I don't blame him they don't trade posts until early morning. Now after that I've never been inside the actual building but, I've seen some blueprints of the place though, and if I'm right there should be an old shaft of some kind that leads out to the far side of the building. I think it's an old part of the ventilation system they don't use anymore."

"So why are you so sure they're in there?" Kursed asked.

Jamie sighed, "Look I've lived on this planet as long as I can remember, and all that time's been spent in this city. This is the only place within a hundred and fifty miles that has a prison cell. There's very little chance that they're gonna expend those kind of resources to move them that far when they're just gonna move them back into the city to transport them to Venom as soon as possible anyhow."

Kursed nodded, "Okay…I'm convinced. So…all we have to do now is get in there and get our friend out." She sighed extending her paw to Jamie, "Just do me a favor will ya?"

"And what might that be?" Jamie replied shaking the white vixen's paw.

Kursed turned back to the base, "Don't make me regret this…I'd really hate to have to kill you."

Jamie chuckled, "Don't worry about it. If I wanted to turn on you…" She said holding up a gun, "…I would have already shot you."

Kursed shrugged, it was true, she had plenty of opportunities to shoot her in the back, "Fair enough…let's go…"


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: **_these chapters seem to be writing themselves. LOL. Not much I can really say other than thanks for the support and I hope you enjoy the chapter. Thanks all..._

_The Footsteps in the Darkness ~ SkullFox_

_Frag the weak, hurdle the dead ~ Mykll_

_Back doors to problems lead to better results and hidden treasures ~ Jamie

* * *

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**Chapter 12:** **Vindication Part 2…**

Kursed knelt down near the far wall and prowled around the facility with her mind; she could fell the thoughts of several animals but, it was not a great number. She looked back to Jamie and held up five fingers signaling to her that there were only five soldiers near the wall. Jamie simply gave the white vixen a thumbs up before pulling her pistols…she slowly screwed a long shaft to the end of each barrel. She took a deep breath kissing the silencer at the end of each gun before nodding to Kursed and rushing at the kneeling vixen. Kursed interlaced her fingers, catching the red vixen's foot and launching her up and over the wall. Jamie found that her mind was riddled with images of the place, images that were being fed to her from Kursed's telepathy. Knowing all the soldiers' positions instantly, the vixen flipped forward in mid flight firing one silent shot at the animal that was directly against the wall spattering a mixture of blood and brain matter against the stony surface. While still upside down the vixen twisted causing her to spin horizontally this time before landing softly on her feet. Two soldiers sitting near the tree she'd landed by quickly stood but, fell just as fast each from a deadly shot from the lethal vixen's pistols. Before Jamie could even realize it the white vixen she'd left on the other side of the wall landed behind her, with slightly more noise than she had. She looked back to Kursed for a moment and smiled; she'd never dreamed she'd get to see Kursed in action one day, and even more so she never imagined that she'd be working with her…

"Really sure you can handle this?" Kursed whispered.

Jamie chuckled holding up one of her still smoking weapons, "You kidding me? Who's got the higher kill count here?"

Kursed had liked the sound of that, chuckling a bit she held up her scythe, "You really don't want to make this a competition. Do you?"

Jamie chuckled again, "Not really." She replied pointing to a small shed at the end of the yard, "Well that's where we need to go. The vent should be inside that shed somewhere." She pointed out, "So do we split up or stick together?"

Kursed pressed herself up against the wall near her inching along the way; the wall around the place was a perfect square, accept the for small square section in the front that pushed in forward leading to the main entrance of the base. She stood there for a moment at the corner of the section peeking around the corner; there were two animals there, both wolves. They were clearly guarding the gates. Jamie watched as the vixen swiftly moved around the corner, her eyes widened as a large spray of blood shot from the corner followed by a severed head. She was surprised at how fast the vixen was considering the size of her weapon…

Kursed looked over the halved torso of the second guard wiping the blood from her face before rushing off along the walls in an attempt to stay undetected by the animals within the yard. As she did so she found that she ran into very little of the guards, until she approached a large tree, the one that Jamie had pointed out earlier; she only counted six animals. She'd faced worse odds before. The vixen didn't bother with calculations, if they noticed her they'd call for back up and that'd be the end of everything. Before any of the soldiers could realize what was happening two of them quickly gasped clutching at a small metal spike protruding from their throats before falling to the ground gasping desperately for oxygen. Two other soldiers managed to pull an assault rifle each only to have a massive arching swipe of her scythe cause the barrels to fall from their guns. Quickly pivoting on her heel, Kursed spun about lodging the blade of her weapon into the chest of a third animal before she lifted herself off the ground in a small spin causing two more small metal spikes to fly from her paws. One drove into the right eye of one of the three that approached her, while the second shot into the forehead of another. The final animal that stood there was a middle aged raccoon, who seemed shocked that the vixen had taken down five men in a heartbeat. As she tore her scythe from his companion's chest, the lone ringtail gasped as the vixen's face passed over a small bit of light upon standing up…

"Kursed…"

The poor raccoon was frozen completely with fear; gun or no gun he fully understood that he had no chances at all of fighting off someone like her. He'd heard so many stories about how she could kill a man with her look alone, and though he was certain that those stories were elaborations created by the fear of her finding people…it didn't stop him from dropping his weapon…

"P-p-p-plese don't…" He begged falling to his knees, "…you-you're here for those guys we took in a few hours ago right?" He asked pulling a small card from his pocket, "…here's my access card…just please don't kill me." He pleaded, "…I…I have a family."

With a sigh he vixen snatched the card from the raccoon's paw; and as she walked away she waved her paw. The raccoon swayed a bit for a moment until his eyes rolled into the back of his head, he'd wake up in a few hours completely unharmed. Not sensing any more active minds in the direct area other than Jamie's, Kursed rushed to the shack where she found the red furred vixen, like herself covered in sanguine liquid. In her paw she held a small dagger, no more than a foot in length, however a small section was missing from its tip, from the center of the blade a thin cable snaked down to the ground where, at its end, lay a small triangular blade. Jamie pushed a button and Kursed could hear a whirring of a gear as the cable quickly snaked back into the blade snapping the metal end to the tip of her dagger completing the blade before she placed it back into the sheath in her boot…

"Aren't they beautiful?" She asked, "Chloe can make some really weird weapons sometimes." She said looking to Kursed, "Wow…you look good in red."

The white, blood saturated vixen rolled her eyes, "This really isn't the time for small talk. I got an access card off one of the guards."

Jamie chuckled, "Really?" She asked holding up a small fan of cards, "I got five."

Kursed stepped toward the door of the small shack shaking her head lightly before her scythe tore the lock from its place….

"You seem a little angry." Jamie chuckled.

Kursed rotated her shoulder a bit, "My shoulder hurts." She replied shaking the rain and blood from her fur, "And it's cold out here."

"Speaking of which…" Jamie stated as they walked into the small building, "…how can you walk around out here and not get sick in this weather?"

Kursed sighed, "Cerinians don't get sick."

"Lucky you."

Kursed took a moment to wipe the blood and water from her fur; Jamie had told her that they wouldn't switch the guard until morning, that gave them plenty of time. The vent they found was an old, round pipe, its top covered by a small grated lid and locked shut, its lock was of course removed with the same prejudice as the one that had barred the shack door shut. Since she had seen blueprints of the facility before, Jamie was first down the vent, with Kursed following shortly behind her. It was as they crawled along the vents that Jamie thought for a moment…

"Say…how are you fitting that scythe down here?" She asked.

"It collapses." Kursed replied, "now focus and keep it down."

After a short while Kursed pulled Jamie to a stop, "Wait. This is good." She said looking to a vent just beneath them.

Jamie managed to maneuver herself, turning around in the narrow vent, "A bathroom?" She asked looking to the stall below them.

"The soldiers outside were proof that they don't follow standard military protocol here…they were wearing civilian clothing." Kursed pointed out, "You can sneak in there, you have an access card. And I can follow behind you I can keep myself charmed a lot longer than multiple people."

"Charmed?" Jamie asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Hard to explain…" She replied, "…just go."

Jamie slowly pulled the vent cover out of place lowering herself down into the empty stall. She was glad nobody else was in the room, or she was sure she'd have been caught. It was as she landed that she found felt Kursed land behind her, however, the vixen was nowhere to be seen. Jamie simply shook it off until she heard something…

"I'm right behind you…" Kursed whispered, "…don't make me explain it."

"Works for me." Jamie replied.

The two stepped out into the bathroom; it was a large room, clearly military in fashion, as the floor was the only part of it that didn't seem to be made of metal. Heading out into the halls, Jamie looked around, the place was large, and they were clearly underground. The catwalk they stood on was all grated metal, down below she noticed a few animals scuttling around; god only knows what they were doing. It was as she stood there that Kursed sighed…

"I'm going to look for the prison area."

Jamie quickly turned to see a familiar looking black panther walking her way, "Then go, and hurry."

It wasn't until Kursed looked his way that the white vixen half considered leaping out of her invisible state to tear him apart. She was happy enough that he couldn't see her so she quickly made her exit. It was however as Jamie stood there looking over the catwalk that the panther stopped before her…

"Well…hello." The feline said in a slightly flirty voice, "I don't remember ever seeing you here. Tell me would you be one of the mercenaries that the Emperor sent?"

Jamie smiled only looking to him from the corner of her eyes, "Actually yes I am."

The panther growled lightly as he looked the vixen up and down, "I must say…mercenaries certainly have become much more lovely over the years." He smiled, "allow me to introduce myself…Panther Caruso…General Panther Caruso."

Feigning interest the vixen widened her eyes, "General?" She chuckled, "Oh my…" She said turning to him, "…a very handsome one at that." She replied with a bright, flirtatious smile as she flitted her hair a bit.

Panther chuckled, "Oh my dear you are far too kind…" He said his eyes still roaming over the vixen's body, "…would I be stepping over any boundaries if I were to tell you that you have an amazingly gorgeous body?"

Jamie chuckled, "No boundaries that people haven't stepped over before," She smiled, "thank you very much by the way. Tell me are you this polite to all the female soldiers around here?"

Panther laughed lightly, "Not at all…only the most beautiful suit my tastes."

Jamie laughed, "General…that might be coming on a little strong."

"Well…" Panther replied, "…I believe that there is no need holding back in life." He smiled, "I apologize, I didn't catch your name…"

The vixen extended her paw, "Lilith…" She replied, "…Lilith Voyaer."

The suave feline took her paw lightly kissing it, "Ah…it is beyond a pleasure. Such a lovely name…your name is matched only by your beauty."

"Haven't you got anything better to do other than fraternizing with the help General?"

The panther chuckled, "Not at all my dear," He replied, "at the moment, I am simply in charge of the base itself."

The vixen chuckled to herself, "Well…I certainly feel safer knowing that." She said, "well. That means that I am in your care for now. Why not show me around?"

Panther held out his arm happy to accept the vixen's, "That sounds like a wonderful idea." He replied.

**... ...**

Kursed smiled to herself, she'd used her abilities to block herself out of far more minds than this before. The chuckled lightly to herself in remembrance to the time she'd taken out a mark while charmed, and it began to spread a rumor about the building being haunted by a murderous spirit. Here all the animals of the area seemed to simply ignore everything around them. She could however see into their minds; she already knew that this place was a weapons facility…and luckily she'd read Caruso's mind when she'd noticed him on the catwalk. He was blissfully unaware that all the men in the yard were dead. Her exploration eventually led her to read a few minds until she had the full scope of the layout of the base, there were three floors. The top floor was only a small office space, just to keep people for asking questions; the second floor, was where she was at the moment, productions and such; and the bottom floor was used for a multitude of other things, such as containing POWs. It took her no time at all to reach the bottom floor, but, she was slightly surprised when she found the cells that Reiko and his friends were being held in. The entire area was nothing but metal walls and solid floors. The cells' doors were covered by a familiar humming screen of green light just like the doors on the brig of the Great Fox. Oddly enough there were no guards in the room at the time…though there were several light patrols that she noticed walking through the area. The vixen slowly approached the screens, though keeping her distance so that nearby cameras would not spot her. It was as she stood there that Reiko's nose twitched a bit…

"Kursed?" He whispered.

The vixen looked around, "Against the wall…under the camera. Don't look this way you'll give me away." She said looking around the corner to make certain nobody was coming that could hear her, "Is everyone there?"

Reiko sighed, "That son of a bitch never brought Katt back here," He sighed, "and, and they took Seven about an hour ago. Said they were taking him to the Emperor."

Kursed sighed, "Well…I have someone named Jamie here with me. Miyu do you know anyone by that name?"

The lynx chuckled, "Oh she's a good girl. Until you piss her off…" She laughed, "…where is she?"

"Flirting with Caruso…"

The orange furred feline grimaced, "Bad news for him."

"Why is that?" The white vixen asked.

Miyu sighed, "Jamie can be really persuasive. If she's got the freak in charge here, she's just stalling to buy you time."

"She's a good kid…" Kursed chuckled, "…you've got a great little friend there. Now where can I go to turn these static fields off?"

The pink furred skunk girl, Chloe stepped forward, "These fields have to have a cut off somewhere nearby. It can't be more than a hundred feet away. Cuz the soldiers didn't say or do anything to close them off, they were using paw signals so it's somewhere in this room, and somewhere they can see from right where you're standing."

The pale furred vixen sighed, "Hang on…" She said looking around.

It was as Kursed examined the area that she noticed what looked like a breaker box on the far wall from her position, "Well…that looks promising."

**... ...**

Katt awoke to a painful sting in her neck and a horrible pounding in her head; her arms were bound holding her up on her feet, and the stress of her weight on her wrists caused blood to trickle down her arms. It was as her eyes fluttered open that she saw the familiar blue shape of the animal that had knocked her out. He didn't say anything, he simply seemed to sit there studying the lovely feline as she hung there, while clutching a small blade in one wing. A slight chill in the air caused the feline to shiver, and a familiar feeling caused her to notice that most of her clothing was missing; the only thing that really remained was her underwear. It was as she looked herself over that she looked around the room, she couldn't place it, it was open, dark, but there was light around the two of them. She was certain that it was some kind of building…

"What are you doing? Where are my clothes?"

The bird simply sat there, "Shut up…" He replied harshly in a low voice, "…I wasn't interested in you before and I'm not now. You're lucky I got back here before the boys got started. So just shut up before I let 'em have their fun."

The feline shook her head, "What happened to you? I never thought you were the kind of person that would turn your back on everyone that ever cared about you."

The bird suddenly shot off his seat pushing the feline's head upright with his knife, "NOBODY CARED!" He shouted, "Nobody ever cares. Once you let your guard down everybody just turns their backs on you." He said, "People tell you they care…they'll call you family, they'll welcome you. In the end there's only yourself to rely on. My parents did it, the Hot Rodder did it, and then Star Fox did it." He said turning and walking away, "once things seem like they'll be alright…everybody"ll let you down." He said, "so I decided that the best thing for me to do was look out for number one from then on. Me. Seemed fair enough, with everyone leaving, going off on their own making their own lives, how was it not fair that I did the same thing?"

"You're out of your mind Falco…you've completely lost it." The feline said trying not to let him see her tears.

The falcon chuckled, "Yeah, that's what I've heard." He said looking back to her.

Katt seemed to simply stand still before the avian finally was within reach; the pink feline quickly kicked the blade from his wing. To Falco's amazement the feline somehow swung herself upward swiping the blade across the rope that held her in place; holding the weapon between her feet, flipping over onto her feet again. The bird simply stood there for a moment in shock…

"I'm not as helpless as you think I am Falco." She huffed, "I never was." She said taking a familiar fighting stance.

Falco smiled, he knew the stance she was using, "So…when did Foxie start teaching you?"

Katt glowered at the animal, "He didn't…James did. Fox just finished what he started."

Suddenly the feline lunged at him, however as the avian swung a powerful punch in her direction, Katt dropped into a split sliding between his legs before snapping back to her feet behind him landing a sharp elbow to the back of the bird's neck which caused him to reel forward a bit. Falco laughed a bit rubbing the back of his skull…

"You really are flexible." He said, "I'm not surprised that James taught you, he made Fox look like a joke."

At that moment Falco turned falling into his own stance, "Well…this should be fun. Maybe I'll test out that flexibility of yours…before I kill you. After all, now that you're loose, I think it's only fair not to follow orders."

**... ...**

Kursed wiped her scythe clean as one of the guards on the floor had noticed her for a moment only to be instantly cut down, once she'd turned off the screen that held Reiko and the other screen, the dark gray coyote rushed by her barreling up the stairs recklessly. She could feel what was going through his mind at the moment. He knew how he could find Katt. Kursed rushed to the others, only to find that two were still somewhat hazy…

"What happened to all of you?" She asked.

Miyu stood up, "A whole mess of Andrew's soldiers came. After the door blew, it was all so fast, they piled in and before I realized anything had happened…we were being hit by taser shots. I think Creed got it the worst. They must of saw the size of him and let him have it extra hard." She said, "Now where's Jamie?" She asked helping a familiar white furred poodle girl up off the floor, "And where did they find you? I thought you were out on recon?"

The canine winced, "I was…just proof that they've got someone good working for them. I turned a corner and four apes jumped me. I woke up in here."

Kursed sighed, "Jamie's upstairs, last time I saw her she was picking up some extra baggage."

"How long has it been since you saw her?" Miyu asked.

"I've been looking around this place for about twenty minutes before I managed to find you."

The white vixen looked to Creed, "Where did Reiko run off to so quickly?"

The large vulpine sighed, "Where do you think he went?" He asked, "He went after Katt. We're all marked with a tracer just so we can't get lost. That means he should be looking for our gear right now."

Kursed only had to look from one of the animals to another, before Chloe looked to her, "In a facility like this they'd usually put prisoners' gear in a holding vault somewhere far away from the prison cells just in case there was a break out."

Kursed thought for a moment, "Then it should be upstairs…you all follow me."

The vixen looked over everyone they seemed fine enough, if not a bit groggy…luckily the guards that were once patrolling the area had left some weapons behind when Kursed had relieved them of their duties. There was suddenly a blaring alarm that caused the small group to rush upstairs, only to find the base in a panic. The animals that had been tediously working on the floor, were now scrambling for the doors, trying their hardest to get out of the building. The five quickly made their own ways along the catwalk that Kursed and Jamie had come in on only to be stopped by a familiar looking red headed vixen, who simply smiled. Miyu shook her head as she stepped forward…

"Why do I have this feeling that this alarm had something to do with you?" She asked looking Jamie over noticing a bit of red on her jacket, "and this blood."

Jamie chuckled, "Caruso needed a little convincing before he'd tell me how to sound the alarm." She sighed, "At first he didn't seem all that bad but, once he got me alone he got kinda handsy. Come on the storage area is this way, I just passed Reiko a minute or so ago, he was in a hurry to get there."

The escapees rushed after the sanguine haired thief making sure to keep on her tail as the alarms blared in the background. As they ran Kursed sighed, there was no stopping it now, if Andrew hadn't marked her as an enemy yet, he definitely would now. She wondered how it was that she got dragged into this…but, she knew that it was all her own fault, if she'd learned to let it all go years ago…she wouldn't have been in this situation…no, she'd be on Sauria drowning herself in her own misery and sorrow. Reiko had the only real information that she needed and now he was running off to get himself killed. Kursed growled out loud as she ran. Everything had become so complicated in so little time…all she could really do now, is hope and pray that Katt would be safe, and that Reiko knew what it was he was doing…

**... ...**

Katt reeled back falling to one knee, she held a paw over her ribs while wiping a bit of blood from her lip; as she knelt there Falco shook his head and tried for a moment to open his right eye. During their brief exchange the feline had landed more blows than he thought she would, one of them dragged her claws across the side of his face. He wasn't sure about the extent of the damage but, he knew that it hurt unlike anything he'd ever felt, and the eye simply refused to open. He laughed out loud as he wiped the blood from the right side of his face flicking the sanguine liquid from his fingertips…

"You're not kidding…you fight more like James than Fox," The bird said, "you know I used to spar with the old man. Never laid a finger on him."

Suddenly Katt sprung forward in all her cat like grace; her form was unlike anything he'd ever seen, actually contacting the floor on all fours bounding back into the air before driving her heels into the animal's sternum causing him to fall back where he barely managed to catch himself on one knee. When she flipped back onto all fours, he found that she bared her teeth at him, and her tail stood on end. She looked like some sort of feral animal ready to attack someone. Falco slowly stood up spitting out a bit of blood before she charged again…

"HE'S ALIVE YOU KNOW!" He suddenly shouted causing the feline's eyes to open wide.

Thrown by the avian's sudden words Katt snapped back to her sense, Falco took the opportune moment taking her by the wrists before swinging her painfully over his shoulder onto her back before pinning her paws to the floor…

"Fox never died." He smiled, "he broke away from HQ along with those other two freaks you hang around with. He's been right under your nose for four fucking years and you never even noticed it." He laughed, "Ever wonder why Seven never takes off his mask, why he's always got his tail bandaged, never shows any part of his body to anyone?"

Katt couldn't believe what it was she was hearing, "And now he's on a one way trip to Venom." The avian chuckled, "He'll be executed, along with all your happy little family. This whole situation will be placed on your heads, then everything'll be fine again. Looks like he really was dead all these years…he just didn't know it yet."

As he was at the moment sitting on the feline's abdomen; Katt managed to wrench her arms free, Falco attempted to grab her as Katt seemed to snake between his legs only to grab a small piece of cloth instead, the feline arched her back until she was quickly standing all the way up behind Falco and suddenly turned driving her fist into the back of his head with a force that threw him to the hard stone floor. Falco seemed to recover in an instant as he leaped up swiping his heavily booted foot only inches away from the pink felines' face. Katt quickly replied slamming her knee into the small of his back, as the force of his kick caused him to spin slightly; and as Falco arched his back in pain the feline wrenched him back by a fist full of his head plumage slamming him back first into the unforgiving floor. In an instant Falco spun on his back sweeping the feline's feet from beneath her, and a moment later Katt rolled only to have the bird's feet land where her chest had been, she turned to face him only to have the animal pivot on his left heel swinging his right into the side of Katt's face causing her to roll a short distance spinning sideways across the ground. Katt cried out in pain but, found herself on her paws and knees attempting to stand before the avian's heavy boot was brutally driven into her gut from underneath. Katt let out a low grunt of pain as the air escaped her lungs. Falco watched as Katt rolled on her back struggling desperately to regain control of her breathing…he took the moment to reconstitute himself. Unfortunately Falco had again underestimated the young feline; in a surprisingly fast display, Katt seemed to leap forward from her position rolling off the back of her neck and as she rolled in front of him the feline rose up off her paws swinging her legs over the avian's shoulders, locking her ankles behind his head. Before he could react Katt swung her body up in a full sitting position driving her elbow down on top of his skull. Falco's knees instantly buckled under the crushing blow causing him to fall to his knees, and in an equally impressive display. Katt reached down digging her claws into his broad shoulders before whipping her legs into the air until she was almost standing completely upright on his shoulder before swinging back down driving her feet into his gut. Falco instantly lost his breath as a spray of blood hit the feline in the face as he was torn from her claws. The blue bird skipped and rolled across the hard floor until his momentum was stopped by some foreign object that didn't seem to hurt any less, the impact caused his vision to blur…

Katt lay there on her back, bloody feathers rained from the air and as she looked to her paws, there were small clumps of red muck and blue feathers. Her lungs burned and her muscles ached, and now that she bothered to notice, her left breast was exposed as Falco had snapped the strap when she had escaped from beneath him. The feline managed to quickly make it to her feet when she heard the avian stand up before the mad creature rushed in swinging a potentially lethal pipe at her. Katt skipped back every swing, causing Falco's swings to barely miss by a bit until she dodged to one side causing her arm to swing a bit wildly. Falco instantly brought his crude weapon down across the feline's forearm causing her to scream in pain before diving out of the way of another attack. As she stood there now, Katt found herself holding her broken arm with her good arm to keep it from moving too much. It was as she stood there that she felt a familiar object brush up against her foot…Falco's knife still lay where she'd dropped it long ago. Falco suddenly rushed again swinging his weapon high over his head only to have the feline dodge to one side before spinning to her left driving her foot into his shoulder. An instant shock of pain caused the avian to drop his weapon before falling back a bit reaching for the wound, only to find a small stab wound, looking down the bird chuckled as he noticed a familiar knife tightly gripped between her first two toes of her right foot. A crooked grin tugged at the corner of his mouth…

"James teach you that?" He asked, "Funny…I think I've seen Fox do something like that too."

Katt huffed heavily, trying to catch her breath, "Wouldn't…you like to know?"

"You know James gave me that knife…" The avian smiled, "…I'd like that back."

Katt breathed heavily, "Don't worry I fully intend to give it back."

Falco feigned a threatened face which only caused the feline to throw another kick, but, as her foot grazed past his chest Falco realized that he hadn't been cut. As her foot hit the floor however, the feline's other foot made an equally fast pass across his chest. This time the attack laid a gash open in his shirt. It was as he stumbled back that Falco realized, he couldn't see the knife. She was perfectly hiding the blade under her foot, switching the weapon from one foot to the other. Katt quickly took a step forward, throwing another kick only to have Falco hook his own leg around hers before kicking the weapon from her grip causing the knife to flip off into the background, clattering through the darkness. Falco simply stood there now, he wasn't sure what to expect, the feline had already proven that she was far more capable a combatant than he'd thought…but, now that he knew she'd been taught by James, he really wasn't surprised that she was putting up such a fight. If James taught her, that means that Vixy most likely had her say in Katt's training too, and he was certain that Vixy had been a far better fighter than James. This time the two seemed to rush each other at the same time, but, as they met Falco leaned in dodging a sharp kick before Katt screamed out in pain falling to her knees as the bird wrenched her broken arm painfully about by her wrist. He'd only needed one weakness, one chink in her armor before he could get to her, and this had been it. He was breathing heavily as he held her wrist, any time she attempted to fight back the bird would give a painful jerk of her arm, causing her to scream again before the pain caused her to stop fighting…

"You know what?" He whispered in her ear, "You should be proud of yourself…Fox didn't even manage to do this much. I think you may have even put my eye out…but, I'm not worried, Andrew can patch that up for me with no problems."

A familiar sound caught Falco's attention as the entire area slowly grew brighter illuminating the area to Katt, it wasn't until now that she realized that she was in an old hanger. Off in the doorway the feline could see a familiar shape, a gray furred coyote. Falco quickly swung Katt around holding her by the neck…

"I really expected you guys to take a lot less time."

The coyote slowly stepped toward the middle of the room brandishing one of his gunblades while holding up a small object in his other paw. It was a familiar looking object, shaped like a fox with wings arching from its front shoulders; Falco knew the object, in fact he knew a great deal of things about it that other animals had no clue about…

Chuckling at the avian's dismay Reiko stepped a bit closer, "I guess that means he was right then. You do know what this does. I guess that's why he left it with me. Fox really is always ten steps ahead of you. Isn't he?"

"What are you…talking about Reiko?" Katt groaned in pain.

"What am I talking about bird boy?" Reiko asked, "Why don't you tell her what Fox told you all those years ago…what you told Andrew to convince him that he needed your help. Why the first thing he did was send after Star Fox." As he spoke Falco refused to speak, "Truth is Katt…."

"Shut up!" Falco screamed pulling back on Katt's chin, "You follow me and I'll break her fucking neck." He said slinking back a bit.

Reiko held up the small object in his paw, "You leave here with her, and I activate this device…" He warned the bird, "…then I kill you in ways that'll make Satan himself pray for mercy on whatever pieces of you are left over."

Falco took another step only to have Reiko aim his gun this time, "You know…friends of mine have a nickname for me…" He pointed out, "…they called me Dead Eye. Dead Eye Reiko…"

"And why the fuck would I care about that?" Falco shouted.

A sudden roll of thunder shot through the empty hanger and Katt fell to the ground as Falco reeled back screaming in pain holding his beak with both wings…

"Cuz I never miss…" Reiko finished still aiming his weapon, "…I really should kill you right here and now; but, you're not my target. There are two people out there that deserve your hide a lot more than I do. So get the fuck gone…"

Keeping his sights on the avian, Reiko circled around with the bird until he was standing over Katt while Falco stood near the door, "Oh…asshole!" Reiko called causing the bird to look in his direction only to have him press a small button on the Star Fox insignia he held throwing it to the bird, "Tell your boss I wish him luck…he's gonna need it."

Falco quickly threw the object to the ground before rushing out of the building, Reiko managed to see the large chip in the top portion of the bird's beak his bullet had caused. However, his real concern was for the pink feline that lay on the cold stone floor. Helping her to sit up Reiko pulled the off the tank top he was wearing, which the feline slowly slid on, though with some slight difficulty due to her injured arm. She looked up to him as Reiko wiped a bit of blood from her face. At first she wasn't certain what was going on, Reiko wasn't saying anything and at the moment he was being uncharacteristically gentle. Suddenly he pulled the feline into a tight embrace…

"Don't you ever worry me like that again." Reiko whispered.

For a moment they two only sat there, with Reiko keeping his eyes on the door waiting for Falco to return, but, with the scare of having that object activated there was a better chance of him running home to his emperor. After a moment or so Katt slowly pushed Reiko to arms length, only to notice a small stream of tears rolling down the right side of his face. At first she questioned it until she recalled his injured left eye. She gently used her paw to wipe away the tears, and before Reiko could make a reaction to her, Katt slowly leaned forward pressing her lips against his. For a moment neither of them moved until Katt pulled back away from the coyote…

"What was that for?" He slowly asked.

Katt chuckled a bit before grimacing and holding her arm, "For saving my ass." She said as he stood and lifted the feline into his arms, where she lightly kissed his cheek this time, "and that was for everything else."

As the two moved by the door Katt looked to the small device that Falco had thrown on the ground, "What was that thing? And why was Falco so spooked by it?"

Reiko sighed, "Cuz that was our last resort. Something that McCloud has been holding back for four years now." He replied, "it's a transponder…linked up with thousands more just like it. Star Fox is nothing like you believe it is, and it's a lot bigger than any of you think."

Katt gawked at the thing, "How big?" She asked as they stepped outside where Reiko looked to the skies.

"Big enough to end a war…" He replied looking to her, "…or start one."


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N:**_ hey everyone. Here's chapter 13, it's a bit shorter than my other chapters but, it's really just a setup for the next few chapters really. Anyhow enjoy, thanks for the support, and I'll post again soon. Cya... _^_^

_The Footsteps in the Darkness ~ SkullFox_

_Frag the weak, hurdle the dead ~ Mykll_

_Back doors to problems lead to better results and hidden treasures ~ Jamie

* * *

_

**Chapter 13: Kursed…**

Retreating to a safe place located outside of the city; Miyu's team, along with Reiko's, gathered. Having gone though a great deal of first aid training, seeing as how Star Fox had never really had a member trained for medical situations, Kursed spent a great deal of time working with Katt. Luckily the feline's injuries only consisted of a few cuts, some broken bones, and a minor laceration or two. She didn't seem too bothered by the fact that she was injured by someone she once had feelings for, not nearly as much as she seemed to still keep her mind on the fact that she was found in Reiko's arms that night. Kursed looked over the feline that night, making certain that she hadn't missed any injuries; however, the feline was clearly thinking about something, something that she was purposely holding back from the vixen. However, it was as they sat there the second night of their stay that the pale vixen sighed after tending to the feline's bandages…

"Katt…" She said, "…why have you been so quiet around me? I don't have to be telepathic to know that it's not like you to go so long without talking to someone."

The feline look to her friend with the one eye that wasn't swollen shut, "I'm sorry Krys…I didn't know."

Kursed donned an angry expression, if nothing else only to convince Katt to speak up…

"It's Seven…" She said wiping her eyes.

Kursed's telepathic mind instantly honed in on what the feline was saying she didn't even get the chance to finish her sentence before Kursed's expression went blank. Katt reached out to stop her from leaving the room, only to have her reach back to her side as a sharp pain shot through her body; Kursed had warned her not to make too many sudden movements. The vixen moved through the small empty den, a sort of escape shelter the Valkyries had stored up just in case something like this should happen. Her steps seemed almost completely involuntary. Reiko sat there talking to Creed when the large vulpine nudged his head in the vixen's direction. Everyone in the room seemed to instantly look to the zombified vixen that trudged through the area until she stood in front of the coyote; there was an instant of hesitation before the vixen's fist met the side of Reiko's face. The dark furred animal hit the floor sliding a short ways before rolling onto his back rubbing his jaw. He could have sworn she'd broken a tooth if not his entire jaw, he was convinced that it was the hardest punch he'd ever been hit but, he quickly sat up with an intent of giving the vixen a piece of his mind before he noticed the tears in her eyes…

"God damn you." She swore, "I always knew that you were hiding something from me, but, I kept out of your mind just to give you the benefit of the doubt. Even after you found out who I really was you still kept something like that from me." She bared her teeth at him, "how could you expect me to work with you, when you kept something like that from me this whole time?"

Creed stepped forward only to have Reiko call him off, "Would it have made any difference?" Reiko asked, "I doubt that would have stopped you. Would it make you feel any better now know that he made me swear to keep this to myself? He made me and Creed promise the same things. You think I wouldn't have told you otherwise? I'd never be that heartless."

The vixen breathed deeply through her nose, before simply storming out of the building, "Where the hell are you going!" Reiko shouted as he rushed to the door.

Kursed stopped for a moment, "Andrew wanted us all for a reason; Falco may be strong but, his mind's as weak as any I've ever read…" She said, "…Andrew has a plan to pin everything on you guys. He's got no intention of killing him by himself, as far as Lylat's concerned Fox McCloud is dead. He's interested in the last hope any people might have…and that's you guys. If he manages to get you all together he's going to stage a public execution that way everyone will know that the last people that would stand up against him are gone."

The vixen didn't stand to listen to any reasoning on Reiko's part afterward, she knew that she, at the least could make it off the planet. Quickly the vixen rushed out into the city, leaving the others to themselves. It was then that Reiko turned back to the others, there was nothing he could do to stop her. Miyu took the moment to look the coyote over, he was hurt, after all the vixen was strong back when Miyu knew her as a new comer to the Star Fox team. She had heard part of what Reiko had talked about with Katt, and now was a good time to hear the rest…

"Reiko…" She said, "…Katt mentioned something to me about, Star Fox… What was she talking about?"

Reiko sighed as Creed helped him up, "Star Fox was not originally a mercenary faction. Apparently it started with Jerek McCloud…that would be Fox's great, great, grandfather. At that time there was a problem in Lylat that was so horrible nobody really remembers it, because it was stricken from our history books. Fox was able to tell me all about it though." He said, "The Lylat system back then was unilateral in it's government; some sort of dictator had taken full control of the system altogether; Jerek started Star Fox as a group of Revolutionaries that swore to stop that dictator's reign. When the war was over, Jerek disbanded the revolutionaries and resolved that if the Lylat system ever needed Star Fox again, they would be there." He said, "After that every generation of the McCloud family was given a small device. Fox, just like James, and Marcus before him…they've been recruiting animals all over the star systems. Fox trusted me with the device that signals the revolutionaries to one place. That place is gonna be here."

"How many members are there?"

Reiko sighed, "Over the course of all three McCloud generations… roughly twenty thousand of the best pilots and mercenaries of the Lylat system."

"How long will it be before they get here?" The lynx asked.

Reiko sighed again this time looking back to the door, "We'll know it when they get here. They knew this was coming."

"How is that?"

The coyote inverted the collar of his shirt, showing a small Star Fox lapel pinned to the inside of his shirt, "Cuz I felt this coming a long time ago."

**... ...**

Kursed had no problems sneaking through the city before she found herself on her small ship that she, Reiko, and Katt had taken to get to Zoness. However, as she stepped onto the bridge of the small ship something caused her to place her paws on her hips. She simply stood there as if waiting for an answer until the chair in front of her spun revealing a familiar red furred vixen…

"What? You think you're the only one that can risk her neck around here?" Jamie asked brushing her long sanguine hair from her eyes.

"What's in this for you?" Kursed asked sternly.

Jamie chuckled crossing her right leg over her left knee, "Nothing." She replied sweetly, "I just really enjoyed working with you. I haven't' had that kind of fun in years…" She smiled, "…besides I have a laundry list of skills that I'm sure you might be able to use."

Kursed simply donned a half smile shifting her weight to her left leg, "Well if that's the case I also know where they most likely took your boyfriend." Jamie said, this of course caught the bounty hunters attention, "thought so." Jamie chuckled, "well let's get going and I'll fill you in on our way."

Kursed took a seat in the captain's seat just to the left of where Jamie sat, "Fine…" She smiled, a bit happy that someone was actually coming with her, even if Jamie did seem to come off as a bit psychotic, "…where to?"

Jamie chuckled, "Isn't it obvious? Andrew wants us for a public execution right?"

The snowy furred vixen turned to her console with a sigh, "…Corneria." As the vixen slowly pulled the small ship out of the planet's orbit she looked to Jamie, "where did you get this kind of information anyhow?"

Jamie smiled winking at the white furred vixen, "You'd be surprised what a guy will tell you when you dig your claws in that little piece of himself he never wants to be without."

Kursed laughed, "I only wish I would have been there to see that…" She said, "…did you make him cry?"

Jamie laughed, "Like a baby…"

As Kursed set up the ship for a jump toward Corneria, she looked to Jamie, "Well…that sort of makes me wish I was there. Did you finish the job?"

"No…" Jamie sighed, "…he was too pathetic."

The two shared a laugh at Caruso's expense as the small ship slowly drifted along. It wouldn't be too long before the two would reach Corneria but, the biggest issue after getting there was…how were they going to find Fox, in one of the largest cities in the Lylat system?

**... ...**

His entire field of vision was a blur; at the moment the last thing he could remember was fighting with Falco on a rooftop before he found himself surrounded. He couldn't remember how many had been there, but, it was clearly more than he was able to handle without prior notice. The white cloaked vulpine pulled back his hood; his face was covered in blood, and this only caused his eyes to sting even more than before; as they were exposed to more of the light that broke through from the florescent bulbs in the hall. The cell itself was rather dark, and he recognized the low pitched buzz of a static field that covered the cell's doorway. The light slowly began to fade in allowing the fox to see his surroundings; the walls of the small cell were clearly familiar, steel walls, floors, and ceiling; a Murphy's bed like structure that hung from each wall by thick cables. He knew where he was, this was Corneria; he never thought he'd be back in this place. He remembered so many animals he'd thrown into this very cell. It was different now; there was a smell that he could only place as sewage mixed with the decay of rotting flesh. It only took a moment for the assassin to sit up rubbing his ribs; suddenly a voice caused him to turn toward a short shadowy figure in the corner of the room…

"This is where they throw you when you know too much," It said, "or when you're set to be executed, or can still serve a purpose."

The still groggy vulpine squinted into the shadows, "Wh-who's there?"

"Doesn't matter…" The raspy voice responded, "…we're both dead. You know you could never hide your voice from me?" The animal suddenly changed the subject.

The voice slowly changed in tone a bit only enough for the fox to hear something that caused his ear to twitch, "S-s-slippy?" He asked trying to look harder into the shadows.

Finally as his eyes set into focus he could see the figure; the shadows hid most of his body from view, but, that didn't stop the vulpine from being disgusted. The young mechanic was nothing like he once was, he was thin, so much so that his bones bulged against his skin, his once vibrant eyes barely showed a flicker of the animal that he once was, and he seemed to have trouble as he stood up slowly. As he approached Fox noticed an indefinite limp in his left leg…

"It's been four years…" He said as he finally stepped into the light looking the vulpine in the eyes, "…they wanted me to help them find you. That was why Falco didn't kill me when we were alone…" He said dropping to his knees in front of his old friend in tears, "…he shot Peppy, Fox. He tried to kill Krystal…he was gonna kill me."

The fox quickly pulled his old friend into a tight embrace, for the past four years the animal had been dead to him…there'd never been any signs of the animal's escape. As far as he was aware Slippy had died there with Peppy. He rubbed the frail amphibian's back as Slippy held onto his best friend…

"Falco…" He said, "…he comes in here all the time. He asks me if I'm ready to help them find the others." He pulled away from the vulpine shaking his head, "but, I'd rather die in this shit hole, then sell you out. Did…did you even find Krystal?"

Fox simply shook his head, "She's dead too Slip…she died with Peppy."

The toad for a moment chuckled, and for an instant Fox could see a glint of the old Slippy in his eyes, "No she isn't. I threw her out of the fourth story window just before Falco shot me. She hit the water and ran just like you told her to when she joined the team." He said wiping his eyes, "she's smarter than you give her credit for Fox…so smart that when I first met her, it scared me. She learned your martial arts just by watching you spar with Falco; she learned more about computer tech in one day than I was able to learn in four years of college. I don't know if it's because she's just brilliant or because she's a Cerinian but, there's something different about her. I wouldn't doubt it if she was right under your nose."

Suddenly Fox's mind flashed back over half a year; he remembered fighting on a rooftop with a white furred vixen…Kursed. The scythe…those eyes. He took a moment to shake the thought from his head…

"No there's no way…" He convinced himself, "…but, those eyes. Would she really go that far to hide herself? No…" He shook his head again, "…she'd never kill people like that. She had a hard time hitting me when we were sparing." Again his mind flashed back to that hate filled stare, those gorgeous blue eyes, "but…those eyes."

**... ...**

A pair of deep blue sapphires stared back at the white furred vixen as she rubbed cold water over her face. She didn't remember falling asleep but, she woke up wearing only a white tank top that reached halfway down her torso and a pair of white shorts that covered halfway down her thighs. Her night had been riddled with nightmares, different scenarios to how her plan could play out and fail, and end with her and Fox dying…but, it would end differently if anything went wrong, Jamie would be pulled into this and killed as well. She knew now that if she failed, word would get out; Reiko's team and Miyu's would come for them…but, unlike Kursed and Jamie there would be no element of surprise. Andrew would have every animal he needed, and they would all die. Her only option was to make certain that this all played out perfectly or they'd all pay the price…


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N:**_ Hey there...since there most likely aren't many viewing this post...which there usually isn't. Thanks to the few who actually are ^_^_

_Anyhow, I've really managed to get in a lot of writing time this month and a new chapter will soon be out for both Second Chances and CoF2. They're both with Lefty as we speak..._

_The Footsteps in the Darkness ~ SkullFox_

_Frag the weak, hurdle the dead ~ Mykll_

_Back doors to problems lead to better results and hidden treasures ~ Jamie

* * *

_

**Chapter 14: Setbacks…**

Katt sat in a mostly empty room. Reiko was busy, as were most of the others that were working with them on the plans of what was to come. In that time, the feline was forced to sit by, waiting for the young cheetah girl that entered the room; she'd been told she'd know Jane when she saw her and they were right. The feline was slightly energetic and from what she could see, rather top heavy. Her figure was something that Katt had only seen in a few places on Corneria. The cheetah sat down with a small device in her paw…

"Know what this is?" She asked waving it back and forth a bit.

"Yeah…" Katt nodded, "…where were you when all this happened?"

The cheetah sighed, "Unfortunately I only got back a few hours ago," She said, "sorry…my job wasn't an important one, but, now that I know this has all happened. I wish I would have stayed here." She said holding out her free paw which Katt set her broken arm in, "I'm a medical technician, I was helping some friends on Katina patch up a friend of theirs that got pretty badly injured."

The pink furred feline sighed, "Well…I'm glad you can fix this."

Jane sighed, "Well fixing a broken bone isn't nearly as hard as it used to be…" She replied, "…especially when it's just a hairline like yours." She said running the small object she held over the broken forearm, "So…how do you know Miyu?"

Katt chuckled, "We were both really good friends of Fox McCloud…."

"Chloe told me something about Kursed being here with you guys." The cheetah replied.

Katt sighed, wincing a bit in pain as there was a slight crunch sound from her arm, "She took off when she heard that Seven was taken away. I think Jamie went with her."

Jane laughed almost out loud, "Well…I'd really hate to see those two working together; I've only heard stories of what Kursed is capable of, but, I've seen Jamie in action. If there's anyone you should worry about, worry about the guys that get in their way."

At that moment Creed entered the room, he didn't seem to pay anyone any real mind until he reached a cabinet where he looked about for something for a moment, "Either of you two know about some sort of muscle ointment in here?" He asked as he looked through the cabinet.

Katt chuckled to herself as she found the cheetah girl staring at the massive vulpine, until the pink feline snapped her fingers in front of her face, "Oh…um…it should be behind the peroxide."

Creed shuffled his paw about inside the cabinet for a moment, "Hmm…ah…some genius put it in this empty box of swabs…" He said turning around.

Katt and Jane both seemed to stare for a moment, Katt had never actually seen Creed without a shirt, and now she was certain that he was definitely the largest member of his species that she'd ever seen. In comparison to someone like Reiko or Fox McCloud, the animal looked like a colossus. Even through his slightly matted red fur, his musculature was incredibly prominent. Suddenly their eyes seemed to converge on a small spot of missing fur near his abdomen. Creed looked down chuckling a bit as he gently scratched the patch of missing fur…

"Oh…that's what you're staring at." He said, "Long story short, some asshole set me on fire."

Jane and Katt shared a short glance, "Really…who?"

Creed chuckled as he walked out of the room, "My father."

It was after that moment that Jane continued her work on Katt's arm, "So…um…who was that?"

Katt chuckled a bit, "That was Creed. He was a member of The Wraiths before I was…for a while it was just him and Reiko apparently."

Finally Jane pulled the scanner away from Katt's arm, "Okay that should do it. Just take it easy. The bone is still injured it's just not broken anymore…it's going to be sensitive for a week or so try to keep it's uses to a minimum."

Katt rubbed her still sore forearm, "No problems there." She commented, "Arm still hurts pretty badly."

Jane sighed, "What about the others?" She asked, "Anyone else around here injured?"

Katt thought for a moment, "No…not that I know of anyhow. Apparently Creed's got a problem or two…could you do me a favor and check up on the big idiot? He could be bleeding to death and he'd never actually ask for help."

Jane smiled, "Sure…"

As the cheetah girl headed out of the room Katt shook her head with a chuckle, "Oh my god, I'd give anything to be able to see what she was thinking right now," She said standing up, "Oh well, I have a feeling Creed's about to find out."

**... ...**

In another room far down the hall, Reiko sat there with Miyu. It seemed only proper that the two leaders of the groups stand by as they waited for a response from the small device sitting at the center of a metal table between them. Finally a voice came from the device…

"This is Jakob Mareth…stygian sect…" The voice chimed in, "who am I speaking with?"

Reiko sighed, "This is Akuba Reiko, Lylat sect. Listen up; I need you guys to know that…" He paused, "…Fox McCloud is alive. He's also the reason I sent out the signal. Andrew's reign has lasted more than long enough. How many strong are you?"

The animal on the other end of the line seemed slightly distant for a moment, "Ten thousand, and growing. What's the situation on Fox McCloud? Why didn't he summon us?"

Miyu sighed, "Fox McCloud was taken prisoner to Corneria…and currently we are trapped here on Zoness. This place is to be the focal point of operations. There is a two man rescue team heading to pull McCloud out of Corneria before his execution has a chance to be taken though."

"Are you thick in the fucking head!" Retorted the animal on the end of the line, "Two men going into the enemy's base alone?"

"Before you get too riled up I think I should inform you that one of those animals is the Angel of Death…" Reiko replied inciting a hush from the communicator, "…seems she and McCloud have some history together, but, for now what's your ETA?"

The animal suddenly came back, "One sec…" He said taking a moment of silence, "…our current estimated time of arrival is…three hours fifteen minutes. We set off to hyperspace on a clear path but, we're not getting a ping back from Zoness so right now, we're pretty much flying blind."

Miyu looked to Reiko with a shocked expression, "I completely forgot…the original LHTA (Lylat Hyperspace Transit Authority) was shut down two years ago. The only movements through hyperspace now are regulated by the emperor's men."

Reiko sighed, "Do you know where the LHTA building in this city is?"

Miyu shrugged her shoulders, "Of course I do it's in the middle of the upper east side of the city, but, the whole city is crawling with Andrew's boot lickers."

Reiko shook his head with a sigh, "Well?" The voice asked, "What's our situation?"

Reiko stood up, "We'll call you back in three hours."

There was a short silence, "Alright…Mareth out."

Reiko turned the device off before looking to Miyu, "We gotta get that system back online or those guys will slam right into this rock without ever even knowing it."

"Hang on…" Miyu said, "…Jane, wherever you are get in here." She said into a small communicator she wore on her wrist. A few minutes went by before the cheetah girl rushed into the room, "Jane…is there any way for you to hack into the old LGTA satellite orbiting Zoness?"

Jane chuckled as she took a moment to catch her breath, "Is that what this is all about?" She asked, "Well, yeah I can. I did minor league things like that in my spare time back in college …medical school wasn't exactly the tops when it came to thrills you know." She stopped for a moment noticing the serious look in Reiko's face, "Hang on…" She said leaving the room before returning with a laptop under her arm which she set up on the table, "See the thing with satellites is that you just need to find the proper coding to get into its mainframe."

As she sat there Reiko moved to look over the feline's shoulder as her fingers danced across the face of the keyboard at an irrational speed, "Hmmm…" Jane hummed, "…well that's a snag. Seems like the satellite's primary power source was cut off."

"Crap…" Reiko said, "…please tell me that don't mean that we have to go up there and turn it on."

Jane laughed out loud, "Hell no." She replied, "What do you think we are humans? Usually the power source to the satellite's mainframe is on a separate router, if you can get the router online I can get the satellite up and running." She said, "Wait…what's going on?"

Miyu sighed, "There's an entire resistance faction on its way to Zoness to liberate the planet…" She said, "…and if we don't get that satellite back online they're not coming out of hyperspace in one piece."

"I'm gonna leave Creed here just in case. He can handle more than his fair share of trouble…" Reiko said, "…Jane, how's Katt's arm?"

"Oh she's fine now…" Jane replied, "…just don't let her to a lot of heavy lifting. Reconstructing a bone has its fall backs. That bone's gonna be pretty weak for a week or so until the calcium builds up again. So, take it easy on her. As for Creed, he might not be able to handle too much. His right shoulder has a torn muscle…I patched it up to some extent but, I'm not sure how far it's gonna go."

Miyu laid a paw on Jane's shoulder, "Listen Jane…you pretty much have to take control of this place. I'm taking Fay and going with Reiko. With four of us this'll all go by that much quicker."

Jane sighed, "Okay…me and Creed should be able to hold this place down till you get back. After all Sasha called and said she'd be here soon. She stopped to pick up those friends of yours on Xenass you asked me about Reiko."

"Good…" The coyote replied, "…I was starting to worry about Lucy and Lin. Who is this 'Sasha' anyhow?"

"My best friend…" Miyu chuckled, "…I've known her since we were little. Hell, I knew her before I ever met Fox. I've known Sasha longer than I've known Fay."

"So…" Reiko said, "…is your team nothing but females?"

Miyu chuckled as she headed out of the room, "Well yeah…" She scoffed tossing her paw up as she walked out, "…why else would I name this group Valkyrie?"

Reiko shrugged his shoulders, "Fair enough…" He said patting Jane on the shoulder, "…keep an ear out, I'll be in touch as soon as we can get there."

With that Reiko and Miyu headed out to gather up the remaining two of their team, before heading out. Luckily Miyu and Fay had a good lay of the land. With the three of them he was confident it would all pan out, however, now his only concern was for Kursed and Jamie; whom he could only pray weren't already captured looking for Fox. With Kursed knowing about him, her emotions could get the best of her, and if that happened, everything would completely be over…

**... ...**

Jamie stepped out of the ship shortly after it landed. She was dressed from head to toe in a Venomian soldier's uniform, her long hair tucked up beneath the barrette she wore. The red uniform wasn't something that she'd even normally be caught dead in, but, Kursed had assured her that it'd be far better off if the soldiers didn't recognize her, and this was what she was certain was the best way to get that done. The white vixen stepped out of the ship brushing her paw over the sleeves of her uniform. Jamie looked her over; her long white hair was done in the same fashion, tucked under her cap in a way that passed it off as shorter than it really was, Jamie admitted that the vixen looked much different this way, in fact completely different, the gaudy red uniform actually drew attention away from the fact that she was even white. The sanguine vixen dragged her claws across her side for a moment…

"Man this thing itches." She complained, "It also kinda smells."

Kursed chuckled, "Welcome to the life of a male." She replied, "Fox took a lot better care of his uniforms, and didn't smell at all. These uniforms reek."

Jamie looked out over the towering landscape outside of the hanger as they approached the street, "So tell me again how it was that you talked ME into wearing this crap."

Kursed shook her head with a sigh, "It's just easier this way. Just act like a soldier and we should be fine. Just don't speak until spoken too and salute anyone whose uniform is shinier than yours."

Jamie chuckled, "Sort of simplistic isn't it?"

"Welcome to the military." Kursed laughed, "Our only problem now is to find Fox." She said removing a small object from her pocket, "Reiko said this thing should lead us to him." She only looked at the device for a minute before she shut it off and sighed.

"What?" Jamie asked.

"You're not gonna like this…" Kursed replied, "…he's somewhere in the Cornerian Military HQ, and if that means anything it means that he's in the basement of the building, that's where they hold people wanted for treason, or at least where they used to. I guess now it's just used to hold anyone that's due for an execution."

Walking through the streets Kursed found herself in an alien place; the city was in shambles, ruined structures littered the streets, revolutionary graffiti plastered buildings, and vehicles lay overturned and flaming in the streets. Corneria City had become one of the worst places she'd ever seen, and at the moment it seemed even worse off than Kew ever was. Their walk was one that the vixen took in with a solemn heart, this place had once been called home, and now it was turning out just like every junk heap rock she'd ever landed on. However as the two crossed over into the still actively military controlled area surrounding the Military Compound, Kursed took notice of the many Venomian flags hanging from random buildings. This was the one thing that the McCloud family had always fought to prevent. It was as they stepped in front of the military compound that she looked to Jamie…

"Just flash that phony I.D and salute on your way through." She pointed out, "Don't say a word; I'll handle any of the talking."

Jamie shrugged her shoulders as they approached the gate of the compound where two guards stood; the red headed vixen slowly eyed each guard. One was rigid in his stance; chances were he was only really on duty to stop his more laid back companion from slacking off. A sly grin slowly crept over the vixen's face as they approached the guards. The more stoic one held out a paw, which caused the two to flash their …

"We just arrived from Katina." Kursed pointed out.

The guard's intense stare melted away a bit, "Must be from that skirmish that broke out last week, said we'd be getting some reassignments over the next few weeks." He said extending a paw, "Welcome aboard."

"Thanks…" Kursed replied shaking the animal's paw.

She started through the gate only to see that Jamie was talking with the more laid back guard. She was leaning against the wall slightly beside him while running her knee up the side of his leg; some of the things that Kursed's telepathy was picking up in their conversation were things that would have embarrassed her to death back when she was with Star Fox but, soon Jamie walked away from the guard running her paw along his cheek as she clearly teased him, swaying her tail as she walked away. Kursed sighed as they approached the building…

"What was that all about?" The pale vixen asked.

"Oh nothing…" The red furred vixen replied as she held up a small card key.

Kursed chuckled, "You have incredibly sticky fingers you know that?"

"Yeah…" Jamie replied looking over her shoulder at the soldiers for a moment, "…men are easy."

It was as the two walked inside that two animals near the doors nodded to them causing the vixen to do the same in reply. They kept to their pace clearly passing off that they simply belonged there, nobody passing them ever really even looked their way. The building's interior however managed to capture Kursed's eye, nothing had changed short of the photos of the Star Fox team and mess of military photos that once graced the walls of the long hall that led to the building's lobby. Moving into the lobby, Kursed turned to her left heading down a shorter hall away from the receptionist's desk. The whole place was the same, nothing seemed different at all. Finally the two vixens moved down the small hall and ended at two elevator doors where the elevator's button pad was located. She pressed the button for the bottom floor basement. Kursed for a moment was almost certain that her mind picked up on something, but, her worries went back to Fox and knowing that he was actually alive. However as there came a small sound informing the vixen that the elevator had stopped the door slowly slid open. What seemed like an army of weapons were aimed at her, and standing at their center was a cocky blue feathered avian who smirked at Kursed even though his left eye was swollen shut, and he seemed more bandage than animal at the moment…

"Not as many of you as I was hoping for…" He scoffed, "…but, I knew you couldn't help but send someone."

Kursed smiled as she reached for her collapsed scythe, "I wouldn't do that if I were you….or I'll have my men here shoot your friend and leave you alive." Falco said causing the vixen to simply stand up straight, "Good girl. Tazers only boys, Andrew wants them alive."

The last things she saw was the falcon's snide grin before every muscle in her body was set on fire by nothing but white. What seemed to her like moments later, the pale furred vixen's eyes slowly opened. Her body didn't want to move and her every muscle still felt like it was on fire, clearly they'd used a lot of electricity. Across from her a red furred vixen lay there, wearing only a black set of undergarments, apparently Falco had simply ordered to have their clothes removed. He clearly remembered some of the things that Fox had taught her, like the hiding of certain tools in her clothing. She couldn't believe that she'd let her feelings toward Fox get in her way, she should have been able to see Falco's attack coming but, now…her, Jamie, and Fox…were all as good as dead…


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N:**_ Yay, I put up a new chapter! It wasn't for one of the stories that I'd planned on but, hell it's a new chapter! Anyhow, pardon my optimism; I finally got the ability to update and POW writer's block throws a surprise left and knocks me on my ass. Anyhow, sorry for all the bullfashism ^_^ Hopefully I'll be updating at a reasonable pace again here pretty soon, however, until then please enjoy wheat we've got..._

_The Footsteps in the darkness ~ SkullFox  
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_Frag the weak, hurdle the dead ~ Mykll  
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_Back doors to problems lead to better results and hidden treasures ~ Jamie_

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**Chapter 15: **_Rerouted…_

The Venomian soldier fell to the ground with a soft thud as his weapon clattered noisily to the stone surface of the alleyway, with a still smoldering hole in the back of his skull. A pink furred feline stepped away from the wall wiping a large spat of blood from the left side of her face before sighing and flicking the blood from her paws…

"Next time you get to be the distraction." She said to a familiar dark furred coyote, "that way you get covered in brain matter. You have any idea how much this crap smells?"

Reiko chuckled patting the Zonessian on the shoulder, "Good to know that bone hasn't effected your personality Katt…I think Jane was right you're gonna be just fine."

Katt shot the canine a short sided smile, "And you had some sort of doubt about that?"

Miyu strode by before peeking around the corner of the next building, "You two love birds wanna give the lovey crap a rest? That building's still six blocks away and we've only got about two hours to get that power router back online, or the entire resistance corp is gonna fly right into this planet."

Suddenly their white furred poodle companion stepped down from a fire escape that hung overhead, "No more soldiers down fifteenth," She pointed out stepping over to the orange furred Lynx.

"But?" Miyu asked.

"There's a whole platoon patrolling Emerick and Twelfth."

Reiko sighed, "Tell me that's not the address we're headed for."

Katt chuckled, "Alright…it's not…"

"You're playing me…" Reiko said peeking around the corner of the building.

"Nope," Katt replied, "it's the intersection that leads to it."

Just down the road Reiko could see a crossroads that seemed slightly blocked off by a few overturned cars. It didn't really look like a military blockade. It was actually more like a gang stronghold that was being protected by common thugs. There was a moment in which Reiko was certain that he'd seen something that looked like a furry white tail pass by the barricade before he realized that there was nothing really there. It only took a moment before he reached to Miyu pulling her back around the corner of the building. With a deep sigh Reiko removed a small cloth pouch from his back and knelt down removing several small metal objects from the case. It was as the three ladies watched that the coyote removed what could only be the frame of a large rifle; he screwed a long black barrel into the frame and produced a soft looking stock that locked easily into place, before he slid a large magazine into the weapon's undercarriage…

"What the hell is that?" Katt asked.

Reiko stood up as he pulled the bandages from his once missing eye, "This is Emma…" He said laying the weapon over his right shoulder patting it's stock with his free paw, "…she's my number one lady…we've been through a lot together," He said holding up a large, nearly six inch long bullet with a yellow casing at it's tip, "and this is junior. High velocity incendiary round with a simtax warhead. This bullet is special made by only one person, and you're looking at him, it'll take down anything that moves and won't leave a damned thing left to tell ya he's gone."

Miyu looked to Fay, then Katt, and back to Reiko, "So that's your plan? You're just gonna shot at anything out there that moves?"

Reiko sighed shaking his head, "Miyu what did you see around that corner?" He asked, "nothing right? Well I can tell you that there are at least seven snipers in that clearing; two on the roof of that far off bank, one hidden up on the balcony of the third floor of the apartment building off to the right of it, and several more hiding along the street…" He pointed out heading up the fire escape.

"So you're gonna shoot while we're the bait?" Katt asked.

Reiko chuckled, "Wouldn't dream of that…" He said, "…let me just say that there's a reason they call me Dead Eye Reiko."

The pale furred vixen sat up in pain looking to her palms; her nerves were still on fire, parts of her anatomy tingled from the shock of the attack she'd suffered at the hands of the animal she'd once, mistakenly thought could be her friend. Looking herself over she was happy enough to see that only portions of her once white uniform were either stained crimson with her blood, or torn and tattered. Unfortunately all she could make of the small cell she lay in was a buzzing screen of light that seemed to paint the entire room in a light blue glow. It was as she stood up that the vixen realized that her right eye was slightly swollen, though quite a bit still not too much to block out her sight. She took a small step toward the screen of light, looking to the white, green lit walls…

"Jamie?" She called hoping the crimson furred vixen was somewhere in another cell nearby, however her call went unanswered.

Suddenly the vixen could hear something behind her that slowly built into a muffled voice, "They took her away a few hours ago…" It pointed out, "…they'll do the same to you soon enough. I don't envy you…I used to be that bastard's friend, and look at what he's done to me."

Whipping about the vixen stared off into the darkest corner of the small room, where there sat a small shadowy figure, it seemed that her shadow was actually the only real thing blocking the animal from her sight until she stepped to one side. The vixen gasped placing her paw over her mouth; the animal that sat in the corner was terribly malnourished, she could scarcely even recognize the little toad's face, he had somehow managed to withhold his musculature despite clearly being starved half to death. The vixen managed to hold in her tears somehow, though on the inside there was no measure to how happy she was to see him; before her was the animal she owed her life to. Had it not been for this one little mechanic, Falco would have gotten away with shooting her all those years ago. Bending down the vixen lifted the injured toad carrying him to the murphy style bed. However, as she stood from laying him in the bed, the toad looked strangely into her eyes. The pale furred vixen stepped away looking out the door of the small room…

"You know you really look a lot like someone I used to know, but, I guess she's dead by now…" The toad said, "…what's your name? Mine's Slippy…sorry if I'm coming off as irritating at the moment, I've been in this cell for three years…I don't find many people other than myself to talk to in here. I'm I being irritating?"

The vixen chuckled over her suppressed tears still keeping her back to Slippy, "No…you aren't…I'd be talkative too if I were in here that long. My name's Kursed. My friend's…"

"Jamie…" Slippy cut her off, "…we talked for a few minutes before they took her away."

The vixen turned her head enough to see the toad's slightly mangled legs, "Did "he" do that to you?" She asked tilting her neck toward the animal's legs.

Slippy looked to his legs for a moment and scoffed, "Yeah…" He chuckled, "…every week he has them set, then has them broken again two weeks later."

"Why would he do such a thing to an old friend?" Kursed asked.

Slippy chuckled, "He leaned from experience," He replied, "Falco knows better than to challenge me to a battle of wits. He left me in perfect health when they had me in my first cell…they were hunting me down again in less than an hour."

Kursed chuckled inwardly before looking to the ceiling of the cell, "Has anyone else been through here?"

Slippy sighed, "Yeah, they dragged a guy in a white cloak through here a few hours ago, but, he wasn't moving or saying anything…and he was bleeding all over the place. Who was he?"

Kursed did not want to say it, "Nobody important…he just has information that I'd rather these people didn't have."

The vixen turned toward Slippy slowly making her way over to him, "Listen…if I can get us out of this cell, can you lead me out? I'd do it myself but I was out when they dragged me in here."

Slippy looked to her for a moment, it seemed that for a second or two he couldn't look away from her eyes, "I remember the way out…" He nodded, "…in fact I know a shortcut, though they've probably put someone on patrol detail now," He chuckled, "I wouldn't dare use the vents, that's how I got out of here last time. I heard em say next time someone escapes, they'll have someone ready to pump some sort of gas into the vents."

"Is there any point of weakness in this shield?" She asked looking to the screen of light that barred her exit of the cell.

Slippy lowered his head, 'Only when they take someone out or put someone back, and even then there's usually two of them, and they're usually pretty heavily armed."

"Males I can handle…" The vixen smiled, "…most males are easy enough to deal with."

Slippy sighed, "Some men don't care how pretty you are, they only care about money."

The vixen smiled even brighter as she patted the toad's head, "I think you'll find my powers of persuasion are a step above the norm."

Slippy noticed something about the vixen's smile, "I could swear we've met before"

Kursed bore a half cocked grin, "I tend to have that effect on people."

He knew that it could not possibly be who he imagined it was; she was far to brash, cocky, but, she was still kind and loving to an extent even though she attempted to hide it. He could see the vixen from the Den so clearly when he looked into her eyes that it was like looking back into the past. He had not doubt in his mind that she was still alive but, he simply was forced to weigh the odds of her actually finding her way here to him. However it was as he sat there that the toad realized why it was she held back, she simply did not want to cause him any undue stress. It was as she stood by the barrier that the toad finally sighed…

"I really would have hoped you'd say something," He finally said, "but, I understand why you wouldn't," As she seemed to simply ignore him, "I had to convince myself but, I can still see it in your eyes Krystal. You can change your fur, and even your mannerisms but, your eyes will always give away who you are to people that knew you."

The vixen simply breathed heavily, barely managing to force back her tears…

"I won't blame you if you leave me here," He said, "I'd just slow you down."

Suddenly the vixen shot about stomping over to him where she jabbed a finger into his chest, "You listen to me. You saved my life, so don't think for one second that I have no intentions of returning the favor…you and Fox," She said turning about, "once I get us out of this cell I have to get to Corneria before they manage to execute him."

"Execute?" The toad wondered, "Fox is dead…isn't he?"

The vixen sighed as she looked back away, "I'm sorry Slippy," She said, "but, it looks like Falco and Peppy are the only two that died."

"But Falco's not…."

The toad cut himself off as the pale furred vixen glanced over her shoulder at him simply causing the mechanic to silence himself, "So you're gonna kill him then?"

Kursed sighed, "Wouldn't you if you managed to get your hands on him right now?"

Slippy shook his head, "No…but, I'd probably make him wish he was dead."

It was as that thought crossed her mind that the vixen knelt beside the toad examining his legs…

"We have to get your legs at least partially fixed, or we'll never get you out of here. I have a plan but, I'm going to need Jamie to pull it off."

Reiko focused his eyes along the sights of his rifle; there was nothing that could have prepared him for what his Link was capable of. He chuckled inwardly as the entire intersection seemed to rush up before his eyes; he could see everything, including the multi-colored jumbles that lay in wait. He could see everything, and now that he could see them he knew where to place every shot. He looked about a bit more, and found what it was he wanted to find. In the first building across from him he could make out a small blotch of colors that clearly indicated that there was a sniper in wait. With a bit of a frown he turned his attention to the building across from he one he was watching, only to find another sniper was waiting there, the two further down the main road of the intersection, they were clearly in the place just in case anyone made it past the blockade. It was as he surveyed the area that Reiko took a deep breath…

"Katt, Miyu…" He whispered, "…you two hear me?"

"Loud and clear," Miyu's voice responded lightly, "so, what's the plan?"

"Simple," Reiko replied, "…once I start shooting, you three get access to that mainframe, once we get it online, we'll be just fine. First off though, which one of you three is the fastest runner?"

Katt sighed, "Why don't I like the sound of this too much?"

"You're gonna love this next part," Reiko chuckled, "once you hear the first shot…and trust me you will hear it. I need the fastest of the three of you over to that building pronto…secure a way in then we'll be good for the other two. So who's it gonna be?"

Fay's voice was the one that came through, "I'll do it. I've always been faster than Miyu and Katt's still injured."

"Well…that was fast," Reiko sighed setting his sights, "Miyu, Fay…Katt. You three be careful…okay?"

"Don't worry about us Reiko," Miyu retorted, "just make sure you don't get shot up there."

Reiko chuckled to himself as he brought his focus back to the weapon he held. It had been forever since he'd gotten to use it; back during his stay with the military his rifle was his life, his career as a sniper was the single best time of his life. Bringing his weapon's sight to rest he zeroed in on his first target…the fuel tank of a vehicle being used in the barricade where two animals were clearly hiding in wait. With a smile the coyote wrapped is finger around the trigger of his old friend and gently squeezed. Even though the shot was muffled, the weapon still sounded off like a clap of thunder, the girls had been expecting to hear the shot but, Fay nearly hit the deck when she sat the fireball that engulfed one of the vehicles in the barricade before two more suddenly followed after. Stunned for a moment, the white furred poodle leaped to her feet and rushed off, not bothering with anything else. Not even when another shot rang our causing a spray of glass to fall down from overhead as she turned around the corner taking a side alley behind one of the buildings to keep away from the madness…

As several more shots rang out a voice rang through Miyu's skull, "Get your asses moving now! I see more troops! It was a set up! Move! Move! Move!" Reiko's voice shot through her headset.

Miyu quickly turned to the pink feline beside her, "Sorry about this Katt…"

The Lynx gave Katt no time to reply as she quickly lifted Katt onto her shoulders and shot down the street. Though she wasn't very fast, she was more than strong enough to carry the feline's feminine frame with her. As she ran along she could hear the gunfire nipping at her heels but, there was little she could do about it, luckily however, as Reiko watched on he noticed the feline ducking down the same alleyway that Fay had taken. With a sigh, Reiko looked out into the distance; there was a massive plume of black smoke from the vehicles he'd blown up, covering his position. However, as his high teck eye zoomed in on the far off street, where he could make out the small patrol of troops that were actually headed in the girls's direction. In a bit of a panic the coyote looked through his things. His ammo reserves were dry. Suddenly his paw brushed against the front of his shirt; he quickly reached down the front of his shirt pulling up a single bullet held by a small chain. He quickly pulled snapping the thin chain before lifting his rifle into his arms and manually loading the shell. He quickly peered along the barrel lining up his last shot…

With that final shot ringing out over the landscape, the bullet tore into a soldier's skull completely fragmenting the creature's head. As it continued to travel however, the bullet's path drove it through another solider's upper chest, before finally causing a third soldier's abdomen to burst open spraying his entrails across his fellow soldiers. Quickly the small platoon shot about aiming their weapons. At first Reiko was certain that they were not going to notice him until a fell wind blew through the area causing a break in the black smoke…allowing the soldiers a brief glimpse of him allowing them to zero in on their new target…

"Thank you God." Reiko chuckled looking to the sky.

However suddenly a shot grazed the coyote's ear causing him to duck before quickly rushing off, "Nevermind…fuck you don't ever help me again."

Kursed sighed as she stood up backing way from Slippy slightly. If she hadn't gagged him before setting his broken bones, she was certain that he would have alerted a guard somewhere. To be honest she was beginning to worry about Jamie, the vixen had not returned for hours, and that was after she'd come to. According to Slippy, Jamie had been gone for more than five hours…which he claimed was not that unusual, however, as she waited by the white furred vixen looked back to the toad that still lay on the murphy bed…

"Any better? Can you move them?" She asked.

Slippy moved his legs about a bit, "Yeah, but, I'm not about to attempt walking."

Kursed sighed, "I don't blame you."

Suddenly the far off door to the room opened allowing a single soldier to step into the room. He was short for a soldier, but, wore the body armor as well as a black polished helmet. The soldiers made his way across the room stopping by the screen of blue light, where he clearly scanned the white furred vixen up and down for a moment…

"See something you like?" The vixen scoffed folding her arms across her chest.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" A familiar voice emitted from the soldier's helmet as he removed it allowing long red hair to fall down around his shoulders. Kursed smiled when she saw Jamie's smiling face.

Laughing a bit to herself Kursed slowly approached the light screen, "Oh I think I am really beginning to like you. How'd you manage to throw the guards off?"

Jamie shook her head allowing her hair to flutter around her head, "Like I said before; males are easy. If they think they're getting something they want, they'll let their guard down in a heartbeat," She said deactivating the screen, "I would imagine with a figure like yours you'd have used it to get what you want at some point. A vixen as pretty as you could do a lot of damage with your body," She said looking over the vixen's shoulder, "hi shorty." She said.

Slippy chuckled, "Is she always like this?"

Kursed laughed, "Yes," She replied, "and I'm a little glad she is."

Jamie chuckled, "Well thank you," She said, "finally some recognition. Now let's get you and your little friend out of here…I have this funny feeling that this whole city is about to turn into the sixth ring of hell."

"What about my scythe?" Kursed asked hoisting Slippy up onto her shoulders.

"Couldn't get to it but, I do know where it is." Jamie replied, "we'll have to get it out of there ourselves."

"Well that's the least of our problems right now," Kursed said.

"Yeah, just get me to a command console and I'll light this place up like they won't believe." Slippy said.

As the three headed out of the room, Kursed's mind struggled with all that was going on. She'd had no idea what she was bying into when she'd joined Star Fox all those years ago. At the moment she could only hope that Fox was still alive, that Reiko and the others were doing the best they could get that power grid back up and running, and most of all, she simply hoped that the three of them could get out of this place alive…

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**_Now I'm certain there were a few spelling or grammar issues since my grammar is atrocious...but, anyone that's read my stuff before knows that right? _**

**_As always thanks for the views, keep reading and I'll try again to post another chapter asap. Till then see ya... ^_^  
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	16. Chapter 16

**A/N:**_ Hey everyone, now for most i know this isn't my most popular fic, but, it's the only one that i find myself able to concentrate on here these last few days. I'll attempt to get something out there for 2nd Chances ASAP but, at the moment this is simply the best I've got. Thanks for the support and the patience..._

_The Footstep in the Darkness ~ SkullFox_

_Frag the weak, hurdle the Dead ~ Mykll_

_Back doors to problems lead to better results, and hidden treasures ~Jamie

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**Chapter 16:** _Victorious Failure…._

Kursed wasn't certain why it was that she was feeling so angry as Jamie, Slippy, and herself, all made their ways slowly through the base, doing their best not to arouse any suspicions. Possibly it was the thought of Falco actually treating Slippy so poorly for all the bygone years; sure he'd always tormented the little toad, but, she'd never imagined that he was capable of actual torture. There was a possibility that, when the team was still whole, and she looked at herself five or ten years down the line, she had always imagined herself living a happy…normal life with Fox somewhere…a stable dream which the falcon clearly decimated. Or even more so than ruining her own little fantasy; it was the fact that, had she never promised Fox to stay out of her team mates' minds…she could have stopped this entire situation from happening. She wondered more than ever why it was that she felt this so strongly now, considering all the years she'd spent brooding over her misplaced hatred for the Wraiths. It was as they headed through the small base that Jamie noticed the deeply contemplative look on the pale furred vixen's face…

"Kursed?" She called not receiving a response, "HEY!"

The sudden shout from the crimson furred vixen holding Slippy up snapped Kursed's attention back to the mortal realm, "Jamie, not so loud."

Jamie sighed, "Look around you Kay," The sneaky little vixen said, "there's nobody here anymore."

Kursed thought for a moment, "Why would they abandon the base? Unless…" In a sudden realization the white furred vixen's pale blue eyes shot wide open, "…we have to go now!" She shouted rushing through the building, "Jamie we need our weapons they know where Reiko is they're gonna march on the satellite power center. I knew this plan was too good to be true…"

"What the hell are you talking about?" Jamie demanded as she struggled to keep up with Kursed.

"Look…" The white furred bounty hunter stopped, "…somehow they knew where your base was…right? They didn't find it by mistake or we would have had some sort of warning before they attacked. Andrew knew that someone would go to the base once they got a hold of Seven," She said, "in fact I wouldn't be surprised if he already knew that Seven was Fox. If that was the case he'd already know that I'd rush in here without thinking about it…"

Jamie bit her lip in sudden realization, "…and once Lylat's only real hope was going to be executed…Reiko. He was trying to force Reiko to send out that signal to the Revolutionaries…"

"Exactly…" Kursed said turning back around and allowing Jamie to lead her to their weapons, "…if that satellite doesn't come back online…that entire force we're depending on will slam into this planet and Lylat's only real hope will go up in smoke…while everyone's forced to watch Fox die…" She sighed, "…he always was good with calculations."

Slippy shook his head, "This was all just a set up? The Star Fox Revolutionaries are only supposed to be a last resort…if Andrew knew about it…that would mean that Falco has been working for that ape for years. Even during the Lylat Wars…" The toad turned his attention to Kursed, "…that son of a bitch. The bio-weapon on Venon, it was a set up. They were trying to kill off Fox and Andross at the same time…but, I'm betting Andrew didn't know his uncle placed that bio-weapon there and fled to Titania to continue his research."

"All this says to me is that we need to fuck'n hurry our asses up…" Jamie said, "…come on our gear is this way."

Miyu led Katt and Fay up along an old, abandoned access stairwell that led up the side of the old skyscraper that housed the ancient equipment they were after. Katt seemed to be keeping up just fine for someone recovering from a broken bone; but, then again the feline had always been unusually tough. Suddenly however, as they made their way to the twenty-seventh floor. A door at the side of the stairwell bent inward, as if it had been sticken by something powerful from the other side. The same impact hit the door a second time, causing Miyu to signal the two behind her to step back while she readied her blaster for whatever was trying to break into the stairwell. Suddenly the door burst open slamming against the wall beside it; and a quick shot from Miyu's blaster seared a hole in the wall just over a familiar dark gray furred coyote's ear…

"Son of a bitch!" Reiko shouted, "everybody's fucking shooting at me!" He yelled still attempting to catch his breath.

Miyu quickly put her weapon away, "What the hell? How did you get up here so fast?"

Reiko was doubled over, gasping for breath, "Main…stairs. Look I don't wanna ruin your day ladies but, there's a whole fucking squad of soldiers behind me. They're pissed, trigger happy, and trained. So if you wanna keep these lovely skins your wearin, get your asses up those stairs…" He half shouted pointing up the stairs, as Miyu and Fay rushed past him Reiko looked to Katt, "…sorry kid. Can't let you fall behind…I'd kinda like to keep you around a bit longer." He said offering her a moment to climb onto his back.

The feline wrapped her arms around the coyote's neck and Reiko looped his arms back around her legs before standing up and trotting up the stairs, "You know," Katt said looking over his shoulder, "if I didn't know any better I'd say you were hitting on my back there."

Reiko chuckled, "Maybe later…right now I'm just trying to keep our asses alive."

It seemed like it would take forever to simply catch up with Fay and Miyu, who were constantly several floors ahead of Reiko. Then again, he was also burdened with Katt's weight at the moment. He knew she could handle herself, but, at the moment speed was a bit more needed than gunfire and death. The stairs seemed like they'd continue on forever before the four of them finally burst through a door into a large room. Like the rest of the building the room was old and unused; there were what seemed like ancient computer terminals all about the room that were clearly meant to keep an eye on the satellite that circled the planet…

The LHTA satellite system was created long ago back before even Beltino and Peppy's time. Every planet and region had it's own individual satellite uplinked to the CHSA. Any ship moving at light speed could clearly see nothing in their path; it was through their ships' system connecting with these satellites that the ship would know when to pull out of light speed, before plowing into the planet itself. With the dust and garbage laid across the floor, it was only clear that Andrew had no intentions of turning the satellite back on here…then again, Zoness would have been the very last place he would have expected there to be a revolt…

As the four of them looked about the room, Reiko allowed Katt to slide off of his back, and quickly rushed to the door, wedging the door shut with the metal leg of a chair; before blockading it with several desks and another few chairs. Suddenly Miyu called him back…

"I found it…" She said activating her communicator, "…Jane how do I get this thing started?"

There was a moment of pause, "You've found it then? Good cuz we only have about twenty minutes. Now the format of the power core should look like a big ass circuit breaker system."

Miyu looked the large panel over as she pulled the door open, inside was nothing but a massive list of switches of varying colors and sizes…

"Yeah this is it then." Miyu replied.

"Good…" Jane's voice pointed out, "…first off there's a big black one labeled "primary circuit drive" make sure that's off right now or you'll fry the system and then there's no hope period…" She paused for a moment, "okay, now the circuits are subdivided into three sections; the primary relays, secondary relays, and the backup relays. Primaries are blue, secondaries are red, and blackups are black. Throw all the primaries to the on position…"

As Miyu followed the cheetah's instructions a loud slam against the barricaded door caused several chairs to fall from the pile, "Hurry up Jane."

"I am!" Jane shouted, "okay. This is important, on the blue ones, only throw the ones marked "main", "main router", and "main relay". On the black ones, only the "main relay converter switch". Then throw the Primary Circuit Drive back into the on position."

There was another loud thud causing more of Reiko's berricade to give, causing the coyote himself to begin pushing against it, "I don't wanna rush you ladies but…." He paused, "HURRY THE FUCK UP!"

"SHUT THE HELL UP REIKO!" Miyu yelled back following the cheetah's instructions.

As soon as she threw the large black breaker, the entire room began to light up as the place's power seemed to slowly crawl back to life…

"Okay leave the rest to me, this is only going to take about another minute." Jane's voice said over the communicator.

Suddenly Reiko moved his head to one side, barely managing to dodge out of the way of the bolt of purple light that punched a tiny hole in the door, "I don't think we have a minute…"

Suddenly a voice came from Reiko's pocket, "This is Jakob Mareth, we are currently receiving a signal from the LHTA satellite and will be entering the planet's atmosphere in little less than five minutes."

Reiko suddenly turned toward the ladies he was with, "Get out of here," He called, "fire escape now. I left a surprise for these fuckers downstairs."

As the three ladies made their way out of a nearby window that led out to a rickety old, rusted metal fire escape. Reiko rushed out behind them…to their surprise the coyote rushed to one side of the structure releasing the latter, leaving only the stairs that lead down. He looked about for a moment, seemingly studying the building across from them; and to everyone's surprise he quickly removed one of the large kukuri knives he carried from behind his back and wiped at the metal fittings that held the structure to the wall of the building, causing it to shake violently for a moment. He then rushed to the other end of the platform, causing Miyu to grab his wrist…

"What the hell are you doing!"

"It'll be fine…" Reiko said pulling his arm away from her, "…I saw this in a movie once."

Katt thought for a moment, "Did they live?"

Reiko chuckled, "Not all of 'em."

With that he swung his weapon into the metal harness again causing a bolt to fly loose; however, other than some more shaking the structure didn't move. Looking back to the room, the coyote noticed that the soldiers had almost gotten his berricade out of the way. In a last ditch effort however, Reiko ducked back into the room running toward the door before instantly turning back and rushing toward the window…

"Hang on to something!" He shouted leaping through the open window and against the rail of the fire escape.

The sudden shock of the coyote's weight slamming against the rail, caused the entire structure to move away from the building. It wavered for a moment, and let out a stressed groan as something far below gave way. Suddenly the fire escape began to fall toward the building across the way. As it fell, Reiko reached out pulling Katt into his arms, and as the metal structure slammed into the side of the building; they were sent soaring through a closed window, where Reiko landed on his back before rolling over onto the feline in his arms. He smiled a bit as he pushed himself up off his arms…

"Wow…that was pretty fuck'n painful." He said as he pulled himself up, before reaching down and picking up Katt.

"Where are Miyu and Fay?" Katt asked.

"WE'RE ON THE ROOF!" Miyu's voice shouted from outside, "REIKO YOU'RE A DEAD MAN!"

The coyote smiled as he pulled a small silver object from his pocket, flipping it's top off like a lighter revealing a small red switch, "Yeah, well so are they," He replied pressing the button with his thumb, "so long fellas."

Suddenly a pair of massive explosions caused the entire building to shake, as the windows seemed to burst inward from the resulting blast. Reiko, Katt, Miyu, and Fay all managed to get to the streets in time to see several of the soldiers trapped in the building diving out of the windows as there was no more fire escape for them to escape with. The four of them didn't even bother to watch the massive tower fall as they headed off…

"So…" Katt said as they walked away, "…how many people do you think were in there just now?"

Reiko laughed out loud, "Not enough…I just wish that son of a bitch Lombardi were here."

Suddenly the four of them stopped as a figure stepped out from an alleyway, "Funny…I was just thinking the same thing…hello Kitty. Fay, Miyu…I don't think I've actually gotten the chance to meet you yet," He paused as he stepped out into the open, where the blue feathered avian smiled, "Akuba Reiko right?" He chuckled shaking his head, "I gotta admit…I didn't see this coming. Never would have thought you'd take out an entire building but, then again you only needed that satellite up for a few seconds, and what….musta been up, three maybe four minutes? I wouldn't be surprised if your little Revolution showed up anytime now…" He said, "…Andrew want's the four of you to know, your teams…he'll spare all of you. Fuck he'll even give you nice, comfy jobs you'll never have to worry again. He's afraid of you guys, and I know why. You all remind me of Star Fox, you don't know when to quit, and you'd all rather die than give up what you're fighting for…" He said turning to the pink furred feline, "…what about you Katt? You…"

Falco was cut off as Reiko pushed Katt behind him, "Fuck off…" He huffed, "…a piece of shit like you doesn't deserve any kind of understanding, or mercy."

The avian chuckled nodding, "I see…aiming a little low aren't we Katt."

The feline rest her paw on Reiko's shoulder, "A lot higher than where I used to aim. At least I can trust these guys."

Falco shook his head, "Trust…" He chuckled, "…I'm gonna let you in on something Kitty. Look where trust got all of you, look what it did for Fox…" He said, "…do you think this was all a recent development? Andrew plotted this…from the very fucking beginning…true some things haven't gone the way they were meant to; but, he planned James's death, Andross's death…this was all like one big fucking game of chess to him. Even now you all had no idea that you were playing into his hand…didn't expect you all to actually signal the revs but…thanks to your little mole, you are all screwed."

Falco rose his arm causing each of the four animals to become covered in small red spots leading to the soldiers that were perched in every alleyway and on every rooftop nearby. He waited a moment until a young, attractive, light brown furred lapin approached them; she had slightly long blue hair, and wore a black leather vest with matching pants and boots…

"Hello ladies…" She said, "…sorry Miyu…he was just offering THAT much more money."

Miyu growled angrily, "Sahsa…"

"Don't tell me…" Reiko said, "…that's the girl we were waiting for?"

Falco suddenly snapped his fingers, "Alright boys, remember the drill alive and, relatively unharmed. Try not to break any bones…but, try to have fun. These four have a date with the Emperor…" He chuckled walking away, "…don't worry though, the big guy and the cheetah girl are already in custody…"

As Falco and Sasha walked away, the soldiers slowly closed in on the four animals, there truly was no way out, but, in the gives situation…what else could they do but surrender…


	17. Chapter 17

_**A/N:** Hey there all. I've been a little busy with work lately, as the pricks decided to change my work schedule around LOL. Anyhow, here's chapter 17, if there are any spelling or grammar errors I apologize, I'm very tired LOL. Anyhow, not much left to this story, Imma try to cut if off at twenty chapters but, we'll see..._

_The Footsteps in the Darkness ~ SkullFox (sorry if you're reading this Mykll, i just couldn't type anymore LOL)  
_

* * *

**Chapter 17: **_No Fury…_

"That SON OF A BITCH!" Kursed screamed smashing her foot into the hull of her fighter that sat in the docking bay of her small mother ship, "He's gonna have an entire fucking army waiting for the resistance."

Jamie looked to the young Cerinian, "Kursed, there's nothing we can do for 'em."

The white vixen gritted her teeth, "Yes there is…" She sighed storming off, "…computer! Set coordinate for Corneria City. We're going home. That son of a bitch wants a war…I'll give him one."

Jamie sighed deeply as she dropped down into a seat next to the vixen, where she quickly pulled a small communicator from her pocket, "I don't like looking to her for help…" She sighed, "…but, we need all the guns we can get, and she'll do just about anything for money."

Kursed sighed, "Is she anything like you?"

"How do you mean?" Jamie asked.

Kursed smiled at the vixen, "Is she out of her mind? Because that could really help right now."

It was as Jamie held the communicator to her ear that the ship shook to one side, "Damn it," Kursed shouted, "if you're contacting that friend of yours you'd best do it fast, someone's following us! That was a warning shot!"

Jamie rushed out of the bridge toward the docking bay while Kursed pressed a flashing green button on the arm of her chair, causing a large green screen to flash in front of her seat; the image was of an unfamiliar black furred individual with one bright blue eye, and the other deep green…

"Sorry about that, but, your ship was blocking my transmissions."

The vixen growled, "That's because I was running away…"

The dark furred pilot sighed, "Well there's no need of that…I'm with the resistance; Reiko requested that I follow you, just before his radio went silent."

Kursed narrowed her eyes at the stranger, "Proof?"

Rolling his eyes the pilot turned the collar of his shirt inside out, flashing a small platinum pinion that she was all to familiar with, in the shape of a winged fox. As Jamie boarded one of the fighters in the docking bay of Kursed's small ship, "Jamie…False alarm. He's a resistance fighter…he was just trying to get our attention." Shot through the PA speakers of the ship, this instantly caused the vixen to slowly disembark from the small ship.

"Well that's a relief." She said to herself.

Back on the bridge of the ship, Kursed sighed, "Well…how do I know I can trust you in the first place?"

"Full name's Dravyn Dark, you can look me up if you want," He replied, "you won't find anything to interesting."

Being a bounty hunter by trade it only took the vixen a few moments to look up his information, "Born January twenty fifth, twenty six years old, ex-military, mechanic, minor degree in physics…" The vixen narrowed her eyes for a moment as she noticed something, "…why do you drop off the charts for five years?"

Dravyn sighed, "Black Ops, not something I like to look back on," He said, "look point is I have a plan to get us welcomed into Corneria with open arms. According to sources, Andrew still wants Kursed fighting for him, and he's willing to do just about anything to get you to come over to his side of things."

The vixen was taken aback, "Falco never said anything…" She scratched her chin, "…why? What does he have to gain by lying? Why wouldn't he tell Andrew who I really am?"

The black furred resistance fighter sighed, "I have no idea what you're talking about, but, if you let me on board. I'll give you every weapon I have…as a sign of good faith. Just so you can hear my plan out."

"Fine," Kursed replied looking to Jamie as she walked through the door, "my friend here will escort you to my ship's galley…we'll talk there…" She said, "…and Mister Dark…" She looked at him with intent filled eyes, "…if you try anything, I don't need a weapon to kill you."

Dravyn nodded with a chuckled, "Yes, I'm afraid I've heard the rumors," He replied, "I'll be aboard shortly, and I promise you that you have nothing to worry about."

…**.**

**Corneria City…**

A young ape rushed through the halls of a large building; he carried urgent news for his Emperor, news that the self-appointed ruler of Lylat would be most gracious to hear indeed. It was as he broke into a massive room that the young ape slouched over with his hands on his knees gasping for breath; he'd never run so far in all his life. It was after he caught his breath that the ape finally found his way into the massive chamber that would have once been the War Room of the great Cornerian Military HQ building. Andrew's seat sat high atop a large pedestal at the far end of a very large, round table lined with seats…

"My Emperor…" He gasped, "…General O'Donnell sends word that a Bounty Hunter wishes to have and audience with you…he says that it is Kursed, and she seems to have arrested two of the freedom fighters from Zoness."

Andrew chuckled, "A peace offering eh?" He sighed, "very good job," He said looking down to one of the guards standing at the door, "double this soldier's rations for the month, and lead Miss Kursed in here, I wish to speak with her, assemble my Generals as well…we can't be too careful now can we?"

It wasn't long before the seats below Andrew ere filled with the bodies of his Generals, only one short, as he'd managed to replace Caruso with few problems. It was as he sat there that the impatient Emperor rest his head in his hand, cradling the weight on the arm of his chair, "What is taking them so long!" He shouted.

Wolf sighed, "Give it time Andrew…you set up all those checkpoints for a reason."

Andrew sighed, "She killed two of my Generals…" He said, "…are you sure this is a good idea O'Donnell?"

Wolf nodded, "True…but, they both attacked her first…they were asking for it. Just keep her here long enough, I'll find out if she's really up to something."

It was not a painfully long wait before the doors of the room were thrown open, and a pale furred vixen shoved a pair of shackled animals into the room; one being Jamie, and the other a slightly tall, well built black furred fox. Keeping her mind and expression clear, the vixen took in her surroundings without bothering to make it too obvious that she was doing so; some of the animals seated she'd never actually seen before, but, two of them stuck out like sore thumbs, Wolf O'Donnell and Leon Powalski. She couldn't help but worry that they might notice that it was her, and said worries only increased as the creepy reptile Leon stood up and made his way over to her; he looked the vixen over briefly with those strange eyes of his, while keeping his body forward. The movement of his eyes separate from his head always bothered her but, the vixen kept her poise as he stopped in front of the young, red furred vixen that had fallen to her knees as Kursed pushed her through the door…

"Ah…" The reptile chuckled, "…hello Miss McCloud…funny meeting you in such a place."

Wolf chuckled, "Oh this is rich…the last living McCloud delivered right to us by the hands of a common Bounty Hunter."

The pale vixen looked to Wolf, "Don't take us Hunters lightly Mister O'Donnell…that's the first mistake most people make with me."

Andrew chuckled, "Wolf, that's no way to speak to our guest," He said, "I must say that it is an honor to meet someone with your esteemed reputation. However I cannot help but ask why you would come here, and with such a wonderful gift."

Kursed sighed, "Well I've recently spent some time on Zoness looking for a someone that had recently pissed me off. Perhaps you know the name Caruso; then again he was one of your generals wasn't he?"

Andrew slapped his hand over his face, "I have to say, his taste in women was second to none; he simply had the intellect of a gnat. I suppose he had it coming. Unfortunately this leaves me in a particular position…"

The vixen chuckled crossing her arms over her chest, "You and me both; see pickings have been a little slim since you came around. Your little…" She cleared her throat, "…Generals, have been clearing out any bounty that comes up. It was always hard enough feeding myself and keeping my supply needs in order but, now…it's practically impossible."

"I see…" The ape nodded, "…I took your means of sustaining yourself and your little business; and you…took my generals?"

"Not quite," Kursed sighed, "I killed your first General because the bitch tried to kill me; and I'll simply sat that Caruso and I have met before, and he had it coming."

Andrew sighed scratching his chin, "Hmmm…well those two were easily replaced with mister Powalski here…" He said, "…now if you are looking for work, that much I can get for you. You seen back on Zoness we had a bit of an issue, as you may already know…now one of my many Generals has managed to round up that lot of the resistance fighters that were there before a massive group of rebels landed on the planet. Our only issue at the moment is that well one of the resistance fighters managed to break away…" He said as Wolf handed her a picture of Creed, "…as you can see there's no small reason why he was able to break away. According to my men there, he was shot several times as he ran off, but, he managed to carry off two of the other prisoners in the process, one being a Katt Monroe, the other, we aren't so certain of."

Kursed sighed, "Fine…I just have one request," She said, "pull your men out of there. If not they'll never come out of hiding."

"What makes you think that?" Andrew asked.

"Katt Monroe is a native Zonessian," The vixen pointed out, "if she doesn't think she can get away, she'll crawl the three of them into a hole in the ground that none of you will ever fish them out of. There are places around Zoness that the old resistance hid away…" She said, "…I don't know where any of these places are either, I wasn't around Lylat until recently; but, I do know that Miss Monroe was a leading member of the anti-Andross movement there during the Lylat Wars. She'd know every hovel and hideaway there is on that planet," She said, "give her a little security, let her think she's safe, and when she comes out of hiding I'll have her and her friends here for you, gift wrapped if need be."

Andrew thought for a moment, "I can buy you some time…" He said, "…you seen I'm being forced to pull my troops from the Capital City regardless," He said, "you seen my ground based troops are second to none, but, my pilots…well they could use some work."

Kursed nodded, "I undestand, since Star Fox went down there's been a shortage of good pilots in this star system…" She said, "…despite how nice this meeting's been. I have to go, I don't want Miss Monroe getting too much of a head start. With the big one injured he'll be a lot easier to take down, so I'd best do this before they get the chance to patch him up."

"Good idea," Andrew said, "we'll keep these two here," He said looking to Dravyn and Jamie, "Powalski, take them to the holding cells, looks like that little execution is going to be bigger than I'd hoped for." He said watching the pale furred vixen leave the building, not being able to help but stare at the way she swung her hips as she walked, "What do you think Wolf?"

The old Lupine looked in the vixen's direction, she was now much too far down the opening hall to make out any specifics, "She's got spirit…"

Andrew still studied the lovely form that slowly vanished from sight, "Hmmm…yes; spirit…and the body of a goddess. When she brings in Miss Monroe she'll make a fine queen."

Wolf chuckled, "She might…" He said, "…but, something tells me that you're not her type."

Andrew glared in Wolf's direction, "And what exactly do you mean by that?"

Wolf shook his head, "Look at her," He said, "beautiful, smart, strong…deadly…"He pointed out looking to the ape, "…and look at you. A sniveling coward that can't even fight his own battles."

Andrew growled, "You can be replaced too you know?"

Wolf slowly made his way out of the building, "The only person that could replace me, is going to die as soon as you have his little rabble put together…"

It took Kursed little to no time to return to Zoness; the city she'd once been a part of had become a complete ghost town. As she stood in the ruins of a down town hanger where her ship lay birthed, the vixen looked to a small device, resembling a small handle with a small disk at it's top, the disk spun, in that blink of an eye growing to several times it's original size and producing a small screen layout of the city, where three flashing dots lit in blue moved slowly toward her location from some distance away. She'd known that it would be a good idea to bug each of the members of Miyu and Reiko's little teams. It was as she waited by that a pair of small figures came into view slowly making their way toward the vixen; they must have noticed that it was her ship and come running, however, there was no running involved. Instead there were two young female felines, and one large fox being supported by the two of them. The white vixen quickly rushed to them helping lighten Katt and Jane's load…

"What the hell happened?" She asked.

Katt took a moment to catch her breath, as she found lugging the bleeding vulpine around to be exhausting work, "Falco, surrounded us…" She said, "…it looked like an army; but, when they were cuffing everyone, Creed shot through there like a moron and snatched me up," She said looking over the animal who's breathing was incredibly labored, "Krys this is really bad, he's been bleeding a lot. We did what we could to stop it but, we only had what we could find."

Kursed hoisted the large fox's remaining weight onto her back, "Jane can you fix him up?"

The cheetah looked over Creed; his frame was covered in blood, there were a half dozen gunshot wounds across his body ranging from his shoulders and chest to his abdomen and legs…

"I could do just fine but we need to get him to a medical station he's lost a lot of blood."

With the help of the two incredibly tired felines, Kursed managed to carry the large fox on her back onto her ship, and into the very small sick bay, where she lay him out on the bay's only large metal table. Jane seemed to snap to attention, quickly moving about the room gathering up the supplies that she was certain that she'd need the big lug. Luckily, being a more modern ship…the sick bay was equipped with a small freezer fully of small packs of blood in such an occasion. The feline reached over to Creed jabbing his leg with a small device that gave her a read out of O+; she in turn retrieved two small red bags from the freezer and hooked the injured animal up. The speed and precision in which she acted caught the vixen's attention as Kursed sat down…  
"Computer," She called, "activate auto-pilot and automatic navigations, take us to Sauria. I need some time to think. Andrew can't be allowed to know that this took so little time," Said causing the ship to slowly take off, "What the hell is going on? Where are all the resistance fighters?"

Jane went about her business, "One of the Valkyrie turned on us…turned us all over to Falco…" She sighed, "…all the fighting moved north toward Terrafin, a port city where the resistance had set up a small base of operations," She said looking to a lump of metal she held between a pair of forceps, "god I hate real bullets, most of these injuries are blaster wounds, but, the bullets did some serious damage."

"Is he going to be alright?" Kursed asked.

Jane nodded, "Yeah, most of the shots missed his vitals, it's the blood loss that got to him, that and the fact that he must be in more pain that I've ever seen before."

Kursed patted the cheetah on the shoulder, as she headed out of the room, where Katt stood, "I'm sorry Krystal…" She said, "…I wish I were strong like you, but, to be honest, I've only ever been any use in a cockpit. I felt so helpless."

With a sigh the pale vixen pushed Katt's shoulder, "Katt come with me there's something I want to show you."

Katt did so, following the vixen until they stood in the center of the small ship's training facility; where Kursed stepped up to a large, familiar looking punching bag…

"I had this made for a special purpose," She said.

Katt laughed, "It looks like Panther."

The vixen smiled looking to the Panther-esque bag, "Well despite that," She said, "there has always been a rule in Cerinian life; possess the ability to defend your weaknesses no matter what they may be."

The vixen quickly shot about stiking her fists twice against the feline's shoulder, causing her entire arm to simply go limp…

"What the hell did you do!" Katt yelled wiggling her torso causing the limp arm to wave about a bit, "my arm!"

Kursed chuckled, "It's a temporary paralisis," She said, "on Cerinia the tale was that an ancient hunter once was challenged to a duel to the death. She had vowed never to take a life without doing so to keep from starving or being food herself. Because of it she ran and eventually found her way to the mountain tops, where she begged that she be shown a way to retain her family's honor without having to kill the vixen that desperately wanted to kill her…" She said, "…according to the legend a mysterious vulpine wanderer heard her voice and her please for help and it drew him to her. The wanderer taught her one technique and forced her to promise him that she would never use it to cause harm to a living thing, only to protect herself. The technique that he taught her was the same one that I just performed on you, it has been passed down through my people's heritage for longer than any Cerinian can remember…every female of mating age is taught the technique," She said turning to the feline, "it usually takes some time to learn and it can take a lifetime to master it, but…" She smiled, "…you're a fast learner, and this is something I need you to know before we go back to Corneria…" She said, "the effect will only last about a half hour, so take a shower and get something to eat, we've got two days before we go to Corneria."

**The next Day…**

Katt slowly opened her eyes and her senses to the feel of the fresh grass that brushed against her fur. She couldn't remember the last time she'd actually slept outdoors; her senses suddenly took a shock however as a familiar white form fell from the sky nearly landing on her face as she rolled out of the way. As the pink furred feline rolled onto her feet, she buckled under the weight of her own body as her knees gave way and she fell forward. The white vixen in front of her sighed helping her back to her feet…

"You've gotten a lot better at this for only having one full day of training," She smiled, "you'd have made a great warrior on Cerinia."

Katt winced as she arched her back in a bit of pain, "I'm not used to this kind of training," She said, "and my leg is still pretty sore, so are my ribs."

"Well that's good," Kursed chuckled, "not to be mean or anything but, training while injured was a common practice on Cerinia, according to masters it helped warriors and hunters learn when it was that you really needed to worry during a fight."

Katt breathed heavily for a moment, "Listen…" she said, "…do you really think this plan or yours is going to work? You have to admit it has it's flaws, what if Andrew is playing you?"

Kursed sighed, "I'll admit that my telepathy hasn't been the same since what Falco did…but, Andrew believes who I am, that much I'm certain of…and he still has Fox alive in there," She said, "there's only one factor that I didn't count on."

Katt looked to the vixen, "What factor?"

Kursed shifted her eyes from the feline to the skies, "Jamie…she's a McCloud. I knew I felt something familiar about her, but, I just couldn't place it. She has that same spirit."

Katt thought for a moment, "I don't really see how that is going to help us," She said, "I mean, there's not telling how happy Fox will be when he hears that news but…"

"Katt we're going to get him out of there…" Kursed replied, "…him and everyone else."

Katt sighed, "Yeah but, I'm not sure how well your plan is going to pan out."

Kursed sighed, "Point taken…" She said, "…but, can you think of a better way for us to all find our way into Andrew's court? I've done my homework on the situation Katt, he has set up his own headquarters inside the military hq where we used to meet with General Pepper. If my information is correct however, Fox is being kept inside the old Military building itself, and the others are being kept in a smaller building that used to be a barracks on the grounds," She said.

"I know…" Katt replied, "…that's where they're going to take me and Jane, then when you give the signal I'll get loose. I still don't like the idea of hiding that device on my body. They're going to take my clothes and replace them you know?"

Kursed sighed patting Katt on the shoulder, "Well…then you're just going to have to find a way of hiding it so that they that they cannot find it."

Katt sighed holding up a small black object, "You know I hate you for this…" She said.

"Well I'll leave the creativity of this situation to you." Kursed chuckled, "right now we have to get ready. I'm going to contact Andrew and tell him that I've got the prisoners that he was looking for. Jane's in there explaining this to Creed, he just woke up a few hours ago. While you were out here having your little Katt-nap."

Katt laughed, "Yeah, well if you weren't so trough on your trainees, I wouldn't need one."

Impatiently, Andrew sat by looking over the large room that was once the massive building's war room; it had been nearly four days since Kursed had been there. He seemed to grow more and more impatient over the hours that passed, and as he sat there brooding Wolf shook his head…

"Give it some time Andrew," He chuckled, "not even Kursed can track down three individuals on their home turf in such a short amount of time."

"I don't care, at the very least she could call in and inform us of her progress."

Wolf laughed, "Maybe you've got that little hat of yours wrapped a little too tightly Andrew," He said, "she isn't one of your lackies, she'll do things her won way and on her own schedule. You want her to help you you'll have to deal with that or kill her."

Suddenly the door to the room burst open, and a white furred vixen pushed in two individuals whom she pushed forward, causing the two feline females to fall to their knees, while a pair of guards carried behind her a very large, injured vulpine…

"The big one didn't put up much of a fight," The vixen assured him, "unfortunately the same couldn't be said for these two."

Andrew sighed, "I must admit that I was hoping you'd be a bit quicker given your reputation," He said, "take these three away, put them with the others. I've actually found myself postponing my public execution of these lowlifes, but, now that i have them all here. I suppose we can get this on with tomorrow. I was hoping that you would stay to watch the show. All I can promise you now, is that this will be a show you will be happy you didn't miss."

Kursed thought for a moment, "Well then perhaps I will stick around."

As the guards at the door led Katt and Jane away, while Creed was carried behind them, "Now," The ape said, "there is a small matter I was hoping to discus with you Miss Kursed."

The vixen shut her eyes, "Don't call me Miss…" She replied, "…it doesn't sound right."

Andrew nodded, "Very well Kursed, I meant no disrespect," he said, "thought I'd like you to consider replacing one of the Generals you so veritably robbed me of."

Kursed laughed, "I'm no bootlicker Andrew. I do things my own way, people trying to tell me what to do only ends up in someone getting hurt."

Andrew smiled, "Perhaps you mistook that for a direct request…"

The vixen narrowed her eyes, "Please tell me that wasn't a threat, I've killed higher people for a lot less."

The ape sighed, "I…apologize, that is a defensive trigger that I have been struggling to deal with," He said, "I keep forgetting that some people simply have a higher price than others. What, may I ask, is your?"

Kursed smiled brightly, "Now, Emperor, you're speaking a language I understand."

Andrew sighed, "Well, I can promise you more money than you could ever make in your current occupation, and the benefits are…astronomical…"

Kursed smiled, "And what benefits might those be?" She asked resting her hand on her hip as she sifted her weight to one side.

Andrew sighed looking her over, "Every empire needs…a queen."

The vixen smiled at Andrew with a surprised look in her eyes, "Emperor…if I didn't know any better I'd say you were just hitting on me…" She said, "…I could…consider it, after all my line of work does tend to get rather…..lonely." She smiled, "I suppose I could sleep on it. Is there a place nearby where I could get some sleep?"

Andrew smiled brightly, "Of course, Wolf, please show the lady to the guest rooms."

As he was told Wolf led the vixen out of the room and down the long hall that led out into the open where he looked to her, "That was a pretty good act there," He chuckled, "you sure this is gonna work though?"

"As long as Leon doesn't find out," The lupine replied, "I'm tired of looking at that sniveling wuss Andrew. You keep your end of this bargain and I'll keep mine," He said looking about before shaking her paw leaving a key behind, "I could only find you one of the keys, you'll have to look for the other, Andrew has it switched from guard to guard every night on a time sensitive schedule, so you'll have to follow it around. You need 'em both to get into Fox's holding cell. You might wanna hurry though, Leon's got a thing for that cute little vixen you brought in here…"

Kursed paused, "Is she really a McCloud Wolf, did Fox's father even have any brothers or sisters?"

Wolf shook his head, "I don't know, James was fifteen when I met him, said he was an only child. Maybe he didn't even know about her…it's a possibility that she's telling the truth. I had a lot of respect for Marcus growing up, hard to believe he'd have an illegitimate kid out there."

The vixen shook her head for a moment, "Well, the sexual habits of Fox's grandfather, isn't the point here. Keep an eye out for that key and I'll try to get it before my part of this plan breaks out," She said stopping wolf as he walked away, "Wolf…why did you call me for help?"

Wolf sighed deeply, "Listen, there's a part of me that's always felt, pretty horrible about the things that I've done in the name of money. Fox was different, he never cared about the money, he only accepted the money because, well it was the only way to keep helping people…" He said, "…there's always been a part of me that respects what he's all about, but, for some reason there's also another part of me that resents him for doing it…see when I was young, I was constantly told that people don't deserve help if they aren't willing to help themselves first…" He lowered his head, "…but, when I first started working for Andrew…I was forced to watch, he had families slaughtered, little fucking kids, not even ten years old yet. How could any of them be expected to help themselves?"

Kursed sighed, "Listen, even though you played your part in all of this, this isn't your fault Wolf. Right now you're doing more than anyone else could…thank you."

Wolf shook his head, "Don't thank me yet, we still have to get your boyfriend off the executioner's block. Your room should be in that building right over there…" He said pointing to a large building on the base grounds not too far from their position, "…listen. The act you're passing off is a good one, just keep it up and Andrew won't suspect a thing…he may hold himself in high esteem but, he's really weak when it comes to a pretty face. So try to use whatever sex appeal you can to buy us some more time."

The pale furred vixen shuttered, "He gives me the creeps, just like Panther…"

Wolf continued as he noticed a guard approaching, "Well, just keep to the plan. I'll come by tonight, I'll bring the prisoner sheets with me."

It was as Wolf vanished from sight that a young raccoon guard approached her, "Miss Kursed?" He asked receiving a nod, "the Emperor, hopes you'll join him for dinner tonight. He wishes for you to know that this is a request that you can turn down openly if you wish."

Kursed half smiled, "No, not at all. Tell him that I will be there," She chuckled watching the messenger as he rushed off, "maybe playing into his hand a little will make him a little less inclined to believe I'm up to something…I hope."


	18. Chapter 18

**A/N:**_ Sorry about the incredibly late post all, but, times are rough. I'll have another up asap, and i promise to post on some other stories as well. In the mean time i hope you enjoy the chapter and I look forward to hearing you input. Thanks for all the support and you guys are the best..._

_The Footsteps in the Darkness ~ SkullFox

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**Chapter 18**: **Setting up the Fan…**

The young white vixen was led to her own small room where she found a number of suits of clothing laying on a large canopy bed. After a moment of going through them she quickly made up her mind. The outfit she selected was a slightly long, dark blue, strapless gown it's length was cut at an angle up from her right ankle toward her left knee, though the neck was cut a bit lower than she would have liked showing a bit more cleavage than she'd hoped, though it showed the least of the four that they had left for her. She fixed her slightly long hair into a long braid that she draped over her shoulder. She looked herself over in a tall mirror, and sighed. She'd have given anything to have Fox see her like this, she'd have given anything to see the look on his face, even she could say that she looked beautiful, but, for some reason she didn't feel it right now…

"Why do I feel like dirt?" She asked herself as she slid a small knife into a holster on her hip under the dress, "well who cares, after this is all over he'll be dead, Fox'll be free and everything can go back to the way it was before. Let's get this over with."

The vixen found herself led through the building until she found herself standing before a large table covered with a white cloth, and a massive spread of food much larger than anything she'd ever seen before in one place. Sitting across from her current position was none other than the ape that had thrown her entire life into chaos; nothing in her entire life had been more difficult that maintaining the cocky smile she kept on her face at that moment, every instinct in her body told her to simply draw her knife and be done with it but, there was no way that he didn't have some sort of protection in place just in case the unreliable bounty hunter could have been hired by someone to knock him off. However, Andrew spread his arms …

"Welcome…" He said, "…please have a seat, there are many things that I would like to discuss with you."

The vixen didn't waste any time sitting down, after all, even with her current state of having a hard time with her telepathy she could see deep enough into his mind to know that none of the food was tainted, and she'd not eaten a decent meal in some short while…

"To what exactly do I owe this…" She paused picking a few things and placing them on the plate before her, "…honor?" She finished.

Andrew chuckled, "It was about my offer partially, but first I would like to know more about you. Where do you come from first of all?"

The vixen sighed it was clear what he was trying to do, he wanted her background, to know that she could be trusted and this was the one opportunity that she'd have to get on his good side, "Rittera…from a town so small we never really called it anything but Town."

Andrew nodded, "I see, that would explain quite a bit," He said, "most people living on Rittera are not registered in the Lylatian chamber of records, mainly because nobody around there seems to care. How did you come to this current occupation?"

The vixen sighed as she swirled some of the food around on her plate, "Well…that was all a family affair. See I used to be a simple, happy woman; had a family, a life, everything a decent woman could ever want…" She said, "then this little thing happened. See this creep of a person decided that my happy little family needed to die, not sure why…" She said sticking a fork in a thick steak on her plate before picking it up, "I turned myself into this in order to kill them back, after they were all gone this ME decided to stick around. I can't say that I really miss the old me, she was weak."

Andrew smiled a bit at he leaned forward, "I find it hard to picture you as being weak."

Kursed sighed, "Well…I'll take that as a compliment," She said, "was there something else?"

Andrew chuckled, "Yes actually," He said, "see there is this little…get together…"

Kursed chuckled, "You mean execution." She cut in.

The ape laughed out loud, "Yes, in fact…" He said, "…what would you say if I said that we were going to kill Fox McCloud, in Cornerian Central Downtown Plaza…"

"Hmm…" The vixen mused, "…I'd ask why you thought it was so important that you told me this in private."

Andrew smiled, "Well…I can see in your eyes that you wish to prove yourself that you are loyal to my cause," He said, "I intend to give you a chance. Since you are so used to killing, I guess you wouldn't mind taking off a few heads as a public executioner."

Kursed eat for a moment before taking a sip from the cup near her plate, "I'd have no problem with that…" She said, "…actually, I'd be honored. After all how many chances do you get in one life to kill someone famous in front of all his little fans? And as for your earlier offer," She said smiling, "I'm still thinking on it. My life isn't just something I intend to give up."

Andrew smiled, "I never meant for you to give up your day job," He chuckled, "I simply was trying to point out that I could provide a much better, easier life for you…a little loyalty would be a fair price to pay I think."

Kursed chuckled, "I still must say that this is a very," She paused, "unusual proposal."

Andrew nodded, "Well that wouldn't be the case had you not basically torn my executioner in half."

Kursed smiled as she leaned back in her chair, "Well if your little friends hadn't pushed me they'd still be alive."

"Well…" Andrew said, "…Verra may have called for it but…." He paused, "…well no, I'm almost certain that Panther pushed the line as well. I can't hold it against you for wanting to protect yourself. Anyhow, if we could simply put this all aside, please enjoy yourself."

Katt paced about the floor in her cell, though she'd been awake for some time now many of the other animals in the hall seemed to be either asleep or unconscious. She stopped in front of the blue light screen that served as the door to her cell, touching it lightly getting a shock that caused her to jerk away her paw shaking it to recover her nerves from the electric shock she'd received. She looked back to the red furred vixen that lay on one of the Murphy's beds in the room, as she looked over Jamie it was clear she'd put up a fight when the soldiers had brought her in; the fur of her face was matted with dried blood and her clothes had tears from some sort of struggle. It was as the feline sat in the bed across from her leaning against the wall that someone finally said something…

"Katt?" The familiar voice asked, "issat you?"

The feline smiled with a relieved sigh, "Reiko…are you alright?"

The coyote groaned a bit, "Yeah, I think. They hit me with some sort of tranq back there…" He replied, "…they really pumped Creed full of it, he's still laying here."

Katt sighed as she closed her eyes, "Reiko…" She said, "…you keep going out of your way to protect me, why?"

There was a long pause from the other side of the wall, "I know this might come off a little wrong but," He paused again, "I promised McCloud that I'd look after you and Lucy, but, over the past few years…" He sighed with frustration, "…god why is it so hard to say this to you?"

There was another long pause, "Listen…I think about you, almost every day, every night. I can't stop thinking about you…and…and I don't think I really want to. I guess it's a little easier saying this now…cuz I'm a little afraid of dying without letting you know that…I love you."

Katt sighed as she rested her cheek against the wall, "Reiko…" She half whispered as a tear rolled down her face, "…I'm scared, I don't want to die in a place like this."

The coyote sighed deeply, "I'm not gonna let that happen Katt…I'll find a way out of this I promise."

After another silence the pink feline sighed, "Reiko…"

"Yeah?" He rpelied.

"I…I love you too."

There was a long silence that fell over the area as she lay there, before something strange caught Katt's eye; almost like a distortion in her vision where a small patch of the wall was wavering and blurry. She concentrated a bit, but, the spot was fairly still and shaped strangely, but, it suddenly shifted causing her to approach the bars that kept her inside. In a few moments the blurred patch seemed to approach her…

"Is Jamie in there with you Miss Monroe?" A light voice asked.

Uncertain about what was going on she simply nodded, "Yeah," Katt replied looking back into her cell, "she hasn't moved but she's still breathing."

The image moved a bit, "Well…she always did have a weak tolerance to sedatives," The voice said as a portion of the image passed through the bars, "Samara…I'm going to bust you all out of here, but, it's going to have to wait until everyone's awake. Jamie called me just before Kursed brought her in here, she let me in on everything. From what I heard Kursed and O'Donnell are working together to take down Andrew, I can play my hand into that…but, we're going to be playing this all pretty close to the chest."

Katt realized what was going on as she shook what she was certain was the stranger's paw, she felt only soft fur and a strong grip, "Is there any other news? Andrew says we're all gonna be executed."

The blur sighed, "Yes, you're all scheduled to be killed tomorrow, apparently there is a good number of you. All of you in here are going to be hanged, Fox McCloud is going to be beheaded by Andrew himself, and from what I heard all the resistance fighters with Star Fox are going to be shot after being forced to watch the public display."

"And what's this about Jamie being a McCloud?"

"Oh that old story…" Samara said as there was a small sound at the far end of the corridor, "…just ask Jamie when she wakes up. She'll tell you everything…just try to stay collected, I have to go."

The image seemed to back up a bit before leaping up through a small vent, proving that this person had an incredible jumping strength. It was as she stood there that a shaggy looking canine soldier stopped in front of Reiko's cell, "You…" He said pointing a baton that doubled as a tazer into the cell, "…General O'Donnell wants a word with you."

Though she didn't like admitting it Kursed enjoyed the meal, though the company lacked any sort of interest whatsoever. She found solace in the large room that Anderw had set aside for her however, a massive room that seemed a little overdressed for a single female. It was however as she stood there looking into a huge mirror that the vixen realized why the room was so large, so that it would diminish the thought that the sick ape was watching. She kept looking into the mirror before she cut her eyes across the room in both directions, the cameras were really well placed, especially for capturing the female that stayed in this room in the bed. The vixen smiled, if nothing else she could at least screw with his head a bit; seeing as there was a camera at the center of the mirror she smiled running her fingers through her hair as she brought her fingers into the straps of the dress that hung from her shoulders, pulling it down over her chest where she paused for a moment and lightly dusted some lint off of her lace bra. She paused for a moment before turning about and bending over causing her tail to arch up over her back as she pushed the dress down to her ankles making certain that her well shaped backside was in perfect view of the camera. Being a female bounty hunter in a society dominated by males, the vixen had learned that her assets rested in more places than just her mind, she could manipulate a male's ego with the lightest wave of her tail or shake of her hips, or even an accidental flash of her breasts. She finally wiggled her body a bit to finally get the dress completely off. She turned back toward the mirror where she stretched her back causing her chest to bulge as the muscle beneath pushed her breasts out much further than usual. With a relieved sigh she turned about and headed for the bathroom; she almost gasped as she saw it, the tub looked like some sort of a small personalized swimming pool, something the likes of which she'd have bathed in on Cerinia where communal bathing was a normal thing. Not paying any mind to whether or not there were any more cameras in this room, she abandoned her undergarments at the door before stepping into the large, peculiar looking tub that seemed like no more than a large squared impression in the center of the large room. However as she stepped into the impression a fine rain of pleasantly warm waters began to fall from the ceiling while small jets filled the tub to a point, and a set of openings near the top kept any sort of overflow from ruining the beautifully tiled floors. She sank into the waters until only her head remained above the water's surface, where she lifted her leg from the waters and began to wash her fur a few short inches at a time…

Andrew sat at his desk, a bathing white furred beauty that was sensually washing a small portion of her fur at a time rested on the screen in front of him. His eyes sat wide, while his mouth hung open. Was she aware that she was being watched and simply tormenting him? Or was this simply how such a creature bathes? Taking explicit detail to every inch of her magnificent form. It was as he sat there struggling to see the more intimate details of her body, as the current angle of the camera was positioned behind her head which hung over the edge of the tub covering all but her face and the one leg she held up over the water. A shorter soldier had somehow slunk in behind him at this point, primarily because of the fact that his attention was utterly devoted to the vixen on the monitor…

"She is absolutely breathtaking…" The Ape uttered, "…I have never felt such maddening attraction to a female."

The ringtail that stood behind him placed a paw on his shoulder, "Good luck, Sir," He said, "she knows you're watching her…" He shook his head with a light whistle, "…I'm willing to bet she's a beast in bed, but, someone like his isn't interested in finding a mate Emperor…she's after something else, and she'd give anything to get her hands on it I'll tell you that much."

Andrew scratched his chin, "What is it that she is after though? That is the question…" He replied, "…I would pull the very stars from the sky for her if she'd only ask, but, at the time there seems to be nothing but her job on her mind…"

The raccoon sighed tentatively as the vixen shifted bringing her bare breasts into full view of the camera for a brief moment, "Whew…" He called, "…the things that I would do her would make me a hero on Rittera. Just think on it Sir. Everyone wants something and her job is not what she wants, hobby maybe…" He paused for a moment, "…there's something out there that she wants more than anything else…fuck just ask her, never know she might just tell you."

Andrew rubbed his chin in thought for a moment before turning to face the soldier, "Soldier what is your rank?"

The coon stiffened up saluting, "Um…sir. Staff Sergeant Mayes, Sir."

Andrew turned about filling something out before passing it to the soldier, "Umm…Sir?" The soldier asked.

"Take that to your superior," He said, "from now on you'll be working for me directly."

The raccoon chuckled, "Um…can I ask what I'll be doing, Sir?"

"Adviser to the Emperor…" Andrew quickly replied, "…you have a wisdom about you that most people in this dreary little system are lacking horrendously. Now tell me what it is you think this one seems to want."

The raccoon was stunned by his generosity but looked to the screen, "Well she's definitely high maintenance, can tell that just by the way she walks, talks, and even takes a bath, every detail has to be just right," He said, "she has some sort of a grudge against someone, not sure who but, you can see it in her eyes every time she looks at a male…wouldn't doubt it if she had a mate that someone killed. Whoever she's got this grudge against…hand him over and she'd probably fuck yer brains out."

Andrew thought for a moment, "How good are you at gathering information?"

Mayes grimaced, "Not very, Sir. But I do have a guy in C company that can find just about anything."

"Good…" Andrew replied, "…have your 'guy' look up everything he can find on this vixen. Real name, homes in the past few years, relationships, anything you can find."

The raccoon bowed as they watched the vixen finally wrap herself in a towel, "Yes, Sir. I will get right on that."

Kursed looked at herself in the mirror as she hastily dried herself off and dressed herself in no more than a pair of black lace panties, they kind she'd been wearing for years, and an almost transparent gown that hung from her shoulders reaching just short of her naval, a nightie that had been provided to the room, it was soft against her fur and smelled magnificent. However, it made her feel guilty being pampered like this while her friends were all sitting in a prison cell. She had her plans but, knowing that she was being watched the very least she could do was tease her onlooker, hoping that the added stress of 'look but don't touch' would cause him to slip up at some point. All she could do at the present moment in time was lay in the massive bed and wait for the lusting ape to pull his eyes away from his sick little cameras…

As she lay there in that unbelievably soft bed, there came a light sound that roused her from her sleep only to find that there was nothing there. As she lay back down however, something trailed up her leg, it was a very soft feeling and was quite pleasant, however she suddenly gasped as she felt something wet and warm slide across her exposed womanhood, causing her to firmly grasp the bedding and letting out a silent moan before it worked up her body, finally causing a familiar chestnut furred head to exit the blankets between her sumptuous breasts. There was a bright smile looking at her with deep jade eyes, her eyes welled with tears as she reached down to him pulling him up into a deep, passionate kiss, the likes of which she'd only hoped she would share with him…

"Fox…" She said as she broke their kiss, "…how did you get in here? And what are you doing?"

The vulpine chuckled, "Wolf smuggled me in," He said, "said that he could buy us a little time before this all gets out of control," He said as she felt his strong warm paws grip her breasts tightly causing her to gasp, "I've wanted this ever since I first met you."

The vixen smiled deeply kissing him again before pushing his head back beneath the blankets; she didn't know why but, the thought of mating with Fox had always been in her head, since shortly after meeting him. It was understandable, after all he was strong, handsome, smart…he was much more than the males that had courted her on Cerinia, and was far more in her eyes than any male she'd met in Lylat. It was as this thought went through her head that she suddenly arched her back letting out a shrill scream as her paws went to the lump between her thighs strongly gripping at the vulpine's ears through the blankets before settling on her back again, where she found herself looking into those eyes again, as there was an unfamiliar but, knowing look on his face. He nuzzled the side of her neck gently whispering "I love you", before he rocked himself forward causing the vixen below him to arch her powerful back lifting him off the bed as their sexes merged. She quickly reached her arms around his neck pulling him tightly into her as her back fell back to the bed, she tried to tell him the things that she'd always wanted to but, every time she managed to say the word "I" another lunge of Fox's body shot a wave of exstacy through her body causing her to only call out his name. Her breathing and heart rate became erratic, as she could feel her body feeling as though it were conforming with his, while her paws trailed over his strong arms and down his back …

Suddenly the pale vixen shot upright in her bed sweating furiously, it had been over a year since the last time she'd had such a dream, but they were becoming frequent and on Cerinia that only meant one thing…she was reaching her sexual maturity; and judging by her dreams it seemed to her mind that she'd already selected a suitable mate, even if not done so consciously it would seem that her mind and her body as well were both in agreement that Fox was the perfect ideal for such a thing. Even so as she hung her feet over the edge of the bed, she could feel her heart still racing, everything about the dream was so, visceral, so much so that she could still feel the combination of his sweat and her own on her fur and could still smell the musky air of their actions. Finally she slipped out of bed before walking to the balcony where she looked out into the city itself. It was looking out at the city that inspired thoughts of Fox again. Finally, unable to take it anymore the vixen made her way to a small communication port on the desk on the far end of the room where she sat down making certain that her blouse hung down far enough to put a nice portion of her breasts into view, before pressing a button on the desk causing a small green screen to produce the rather shocked face of the planet's current emperor…

"Good evening Emperor…" She smiled, "…I was wondering if it would be too much to ask that I might speak with all of these executions before hand?"

Andrew's attention stayed where she needed it, glued to her nearly exposed breasts, "Um…yes of course," The ape said, "I'll pass word to the guards…um…" he fully paused as her gown fell a bit on the left side causing a bit of her right nipple to fall into view before she quickly pulled the gown up.

"I apologize for my appearance…" She chuckled pulling the shoulder strap up, "…this thing doesn't fit quite as well as I'd like it to. I will go and speak with them now…thank you, I apologize for bothering you at such a late hour."

"Oh it was no bother at all…" Andrew replied sighing heavily as he turned the communicator, "…now…what in the world was I just doing?"

It took almost forever for the vixen to find her way down to the basement of the building where small holding cells were kept up for treason to the planet government of Corneria. It was an insult keeping Fox in such a place. As she made her way down into the depths of the tower the pale vixen, looked from cell to cell until she stopped and gasped as she looked into a particular cell. Against the back wall was a familiar sight; a well built chestnut furred fox, his old white uniform from the Wraiths was tattered and loosely hung from his body, as well his rather fluffy tail showed a bit through the torn bandages that had wrapped it earlier; his head hung loosely and she could see now that his hair had grown out somewhat, managing a small tail that hung over his shoulder. She stood there for a moment causing him to cut his eyes at her…

"I…" He groaned, "…I perferred your real fur color…" He lightly chuckled.

The vixen stifled her laugh as she stood there, "Why aren't there any cameras here?"

The imprisoned vulpine sighed, "He doesn't care…with all the guard…there's no escape."

The vixen lay her hand on the small opening in the door that was set by several small bars, "I thought you were dead. You should have said something…" She said looking to the ground, "…then this wouldn't have happened."

Fox shook his head, "Don't lie to yourself…" He said, "…if you were found with me he would have just realized who you really are and killed you."

Kursed sighed, "Did they bring Slippy in here?"

"No I imagine they're keeping him with the others…Andrew never did respect his intelligence."

The vixen thought for a moment but sighed she didn't want to say anything but she needed him to expect it, "Fox…I'm working with Wolf O'Donnell, we're going to set up an escape but, I need your help to do it."

"O'Donnell? What's he care?"

Kursed shook her head, "More than you know. He hates Andrew with a passion…and right now he should be filling in Reiko with the details."

Reiko chuckled unrelievedly as he stood by listening to O'Donnell's story, it seemed a bit far-fetched but, if it was a lie why would O'Donnell have taken him out of his cell in order to tell it to him? As he stood there his eyes kept looking for an exit, it was a small blank room and that along made him feel uncomfortable as the only person other than himself was a General of Andrew's that simply claimed he was working with Kursed, then again if he wasn't, how would he know that she was actually Krystal? Finally the dark furred coyote heard what was left of what Wolf had to say and sighed…

"So that's it huh?" Reiko asked, "that's you and her big plan? Sounds a little on the risky side."

Wolf rolled his eyes, "You could always just sit there and watch when they bring the axe down on Katt first…you know he's gonna kill all former Star Fox members before he get's to you right?"

Reiko nodded, "Fine…what do I need to do?"

"I'll be back before morning…"

With that he led Reiko out into the halls, "Look I know you don't have a love of any kind for me, nobody in this star system does, and I deserve that…" Wolf said as he looked to Reiko for a second, "…but, there hasn't been a day I haven't regretted what I did to Fox. So when the hammer does come down on Andrew, I won't be around to see what part of it falls on me. For now though…" He said stopping by the cells, "…at least I can do something right…" He said allowing the coyote to step into the cell and walking away.

As Reiko watched the wolf leave the area a pair of arms swung around the coyote's neck from behind, causing him to quickly turn about embracing the pink feline tightly, "Katt…" He said, "…why?"

"I don't know…" Katt replied, "…when you left a guard pulled Creed into my cell and moved me over here. Said that Wolf ordered it." She said pulling back and looking at him.

"But what…"

"Reiko…" Katt cut him off with a chuckle, "…shut the fuck up and kiss me already before someone moves me back."

As their lips met Reiko felt the feline's weight give in to him pushing him against the bars of the cell, there was no real way of telling her how long he'd wanted this moment, and now that he was in it…he knew that it would all end far too soon…

Wolf walked out into the open leaning up against the corner of the building and crossing his arms as he paid no real attention to the soldier on the opposite end of the corner who stood in the same position…

"I do the right thing back there, D?" The lupine asked.

The soldier removed his helmet for a moment brushing back his long hair, the black furred fox quickly put the helmet back on however, "O'Donnell that was about all the right I've ever seen you do." He chuckled.

Wolf laughed, "Huh…no kidding. Well at least he'll be having some fun tonight. You get the key?"

Dravyn chuckled spinning a key ring around on his index finger, "Of course I did…you doubt my slide of hand?"

Wolf chuckled, "Not at all…" He said, "…the armory is unguarded for about five minutes every night, once you've got the opening get in there, get what we need and get out."

"You got it…" Dravyn replied, "…and Wolf…I left one of my fighters just outside the city to the north, once the shit hits the fan get out of here as fast as you can."

As Dravyn walked off Wolf chuckled, "You don't have to tell me twice…" He said looking up to towards the still lit floors of the tower with a sigh, "…this shit is gonna be big. I just hope we've got a big enough fan."


End file.
